


Love and Happiness

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: Affairs, Angst, Banter, Bestest Cousins, Breakups, Cheating, Clark and Oliver will never see eye to eye on things, Dinah's not very nice in this at all, Drunk flirting, Drunken Shenanigans, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Grief, Humor, Hurt Chloe, Impulse Buying, Jealousy, Loss, Mugging, Revenge, Sorry Not Sorry, Team Green, Teamwork, Unhealthy Relationships, Vegas, Watchtower - Freeform, We're shipper trash, Worried Oliver, hangovers, loss of a parent, unfounded accusations, wedding presents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:09:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 42,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24176404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Oliver and Chloe grow closer than ever when he returns to Metropolis to deal with business at QI and Lex's latest project.
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Dinah Lance, Chloe Sullivan & Lois Lane, Clark Kent/Lana Lang, James "Jimmy" Olsen/Chloe Sullivan, James "Jimmy" Olsen/Kara Zor-El, Lois Lane/Grant Gabriel, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen/Dinah Lance
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

It was late. Sometime after Midnight. So it wasn't surprising that the Daily Planet office was virtually empty, sans the guard at the door, who'd stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before stepping aside and letting him in. He was used to that kind of reaction, and while it used to bother him, these days he simply smiled and moved on. It tended, after all, to work in his favor. And he can use all the things he could get in his favor.

He headed down the steps quietly, glancing around the basement and pausing when his gaze landed on the person he was looking for. A small smile touched his mouth, but then he winced a little as he recalled the last time he'd seen her. She'd gotten hurt on his watch.

Of course that had been several months ago, and he'd sent her flowers the next morning to make up for it. And they'd talked many, many times since then, and she didn't seem to have held a grudge for nearly getting her maimed.

He stood silently for a moment, watching as she focused intently on what she was doing. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she worked on whatever story she was currently writing up.

Chloe Sullivan was one hell of a good reporter, and since the new editor, Grant Gabriel had taken over, he'd been seeing less and less of her articles in the Planet. And the ones that were there were short fluff pieces.

It was a complete waste of her talents and abilities.

He wondered what the hell this Gabriel guy was thinking.

Shaking his head a little, he moved closer, reaching out and laying his hand gently on her shoulder. "Hey."

Chloe immediately gasped and jumped, standing up quickly as she turned to face whoever was suddenly standing behind her and also try her best to block their view from the screen. She held her breath and stared at him with wide eyes, realizing a second later who it was, "Oliver?"

He flashed her a grin. "Oh good. I was afraid I'd been away so long you wouldn't recognize me," he teased.

She relaxed slightly and shook her head a little at him "I thought you were Jimmy," she murmured, "what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was in town and I had to come see my favorite Sidekick." His eyes were bright.

"And nearly give me a heart attack in the process," she pointed out, arching her eyebrows as she moved to sit back down and motioning for the chair from the other desk for him, "what brings you to Metropolis?"

He raised his eyebrows, as well. "Sorry," he said, though he didn't sound that apologetic, sitting down on the corner of her desk rather than the indicated chair. "Business. If you know what I mean."

"Right," she told him, sitting up a little, "I guess you should definitely not talk about business in enemy grounds such as the Planet," she pointed out, arching an eyebrow pointedly, "never know who might overhear you, we're all dying to get the scoop on Oliver Queen after all." There was no hint of kidding in her voice although she tried to pretend she was teasing.

A small smile tugged at his mouth and he nodded a little. "I guess I should be extra careful who I trust around here, huh?"

Chloe relaxed slightly, "probably a good plan." She told him, smirking a little.

"Noted." He nodded, watching her for a moment. Then he leaned over, reached out and picked up a notepad and pen, scribbling something down on it and turning it toward her so she could read it.

She smirked some more as she read the words 'Midnight coffee break?' scribbled down on the paper. She picked up the notepad and set it over her desk, "you should go," she told him, casually writing down 'meet you outside in five' under his words, "I still need to finish up this article for my deadline tomorrow morning."

Nodding, he slid off her desk, winking at her. "I can take the hint. I'll get out of your hair. Just tell Lois I said hello." He headed toward the steps.

"I will," she told him, pulling out the paper and tossing it into her purse then turning back to her screen, smiling softly to herself, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on now.

* * *

Oliver stood outside the Daily Planet, leaning back against the brick wall as he waited for Chloe, looking up at the sky. His eyes were distant, his mind not quite focused on where he was, but when he heard the sound of heels clicking against the pavement, he turned, smiling once more when he spotted her approaching.

"Hey," she greeted, "sorry it took me so long, I had to wipe my computer clean, it's a nightly ritual with the Luthors in charge," she told him, adjusting her purse over her shoulder.

"Not a problem," he told her, pushing himself away from the wall and turning so they were walking side-by-side down the sidewalk. "Did you drive?" he asked, raising his eyebrows a little.

"From Smallville?" She smirked, "yeah, I did. Clark may have rubbed off on me, but not that much."

Oliver shook his head a little. "You know, I'm still surprised you haven't moved to Metropolis considering how long the commute is."

"Rent doesn't get any cheaper than free. I only pay utilities at the Talon since Lana owns the building now." She told him, shrugging a little.

He shrugged, too, tucking his hands in his pockets as they walked. "How've things been?"

"Not too stressful unless you count the dictatorship the Planet is currently under," she told him, arching her eyebrows, "you?"

"Can't complain," he answered, taking a breath and glancing at her sideways. He was quiet for a moment. "There hasn't been any change. With your mom." His voice grew softer.

Her chest tightened instantly and her smile slipped, she hadn't really thought of her mom in a while, "oh. I guess that's better than her getting worse," she whispered, glancing at him, "thanks for checking on her."

"It's not a problem, I just...thought you'd want to know," he said softly, glancing at her sideways.

Chloe nodded a little, glancing at him then back ahead, "I should... go see her, sometime."

"Anytime you want," he told her. "I can even fly you in and give you a place to stay."

She raised her eyebrows and looked over at him, smiling a little, "thank you, I can have Clark run me there and back, but I won't say no to a place to stay," she told him quietly.

He nodded, chewing the inside of his cheek for a moment. "How is the resident boy scout?"

"He's okay," she told him, "like I said, things have been quieter in the business front. He's been spending a lot of time at the farm with Lana."

Oliver grimaced a little at that. "I see."

Chloe smirked at his reaction and shook her head, "how are things in Star City?" She asked.

Oliver was silent for a moment. "Okay."

She frowned at that and turned to look at him, a worried look on her face, "what's wrong?"

He looked back at her once more, shaking his head. "Nothing's _wrong_ , exactly. Just...you know how sometimes you end up in unexpected places?"

"...Yeah." She said quietly, keeping her eyes on him, "what kind of unexpected place are we talking about here?"

He pursed his lips, raising his eyebrows a little. "The engaged kind," he confessed.

Chloe stilled, her eyes widening, her mouth hanging open just a little, "you're... _engaged_?" She gasped. "And who exactly managed to get one of the country's most eligible bachelors to commit?"

Oliver stopped walking, too, turning to face her. "Dinah," he told her.

"Dinah?" Chloe echoed, staring up at him, "as in Lance as in _Canary_?" She asked, even if she tried to, she wouldn't have been able to hide her shock.

"I can tell by the skepticism in your voice that this was unexpected." He smirked, but it was faint. Barely there.

"I-- well, yes," she admitted, "I didn't even know you two were dating," and not to mention he had known Dinah for a few months only.

Oliver rubbed the back of his neck, nodding a little. "We've kind of...not mentioned it to anyone," he confessed.

"Right," she smiled softly and shrugged, "well, I think it's great, I mean, maybe a little rushed? But at least you two don't have to lie to each other and that's a good start."

"Right," he said quietly, nodding as he gazed at her. "That's pretty much my only news on the personal front."

"You don't... seem very thrilled about it," she said quietly. Normally she'd stay out of Oliver's personal life but he had brought it up to begin with so she had the feeling he needed to talk about it.

His chest tightened a little and he tried to smile. "Well, it's for the best, you know? Like you said, at least we don't have to lie to each other about who we really are." He shrugged, looking down for a moment, then back up at her. "What about you?"

Chloe watched him for a moment then smiled sadly at him and shrugged, "I'm still lying."

Oliver winced. "Chloe, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"No, don't be," she said sincerely and took a deep breath, "I'm glad you guys have each other and that not _all_ of us are in that situation and I hope it works out for you."

"Thank you," he said just as sincerely. "And hey, maybe you should consider telling Jimmy."

She took a deep breath at that and smiled a little and shook her head, "even if I tell him about myself, I can't exactly tell him about the team or what we do," she pointed out. "I don't know if lies are better or worse than half-truths."

"What if you could tell him all of it?" His voice dropped a little. "Is he trustworthy?"

Chloe cocked her head, "I don't know what it would say about me if I was dating him and I _didn't_ think he was trustworthy," she pointed out, "but I don't know how well he would take the whole thing..."

"I'd think it would say that you were settling," he responded, watching her closely.

Her stomach turned but she smirked a little at him anyway, "just because things aren't... ideal it doesn't mean I'm settling." She told him.

Oliver nodded slightly. "Okay. Good." He smiled faintly. "So what do you say to that coffee?"

"I never say no to coffee," she reminded him, trying for a smile too.

"Great." He offered her his arm, raising his eyebrows a little. "So, I take it that this newly appointed editor at the Daily Planet is firmly in Lex's pocket."

"More like in Lex's gene pool," she told him, arching her eyebrows as she took his arm.

Oliver blinked at that, looking down at her. "Come again?"

"I bet you missed Kansas and all the weird things we get here, didn't you?" She smirked at the look on his face, "I only have one document I stumbled upon recently, but I started checking into it, and it looks like Gabriel Grant is a clone of the deceased Julian Luthor, Lex's little brother who he has been obsessed with since he passed away as an infant.

He groaned a little. "Seriously?" He rolled his eyes skyward and shook his head. "Good God."

" _Yeah_ , he's bad news. Which of course means Lois is all over him." She sighed, shaking her head, "I tried warning her off, but she thinks it's a competition."

Oliver winced a little. "Oh?" He glanced at her from the corner of her eye. "A competition of...what exactly?"

"You didn't hear?" Chloe frowned, looking up at him, "she's the Planet's newest hire."

"No, I heard." He frowned, too, pausing. "She thinks it's a competition between the two of you?" His voice was skeptical.

"Come on, Oliver," she gave him a look, "you know Lois and you know how our relationship works. It's always a competition between the two of us, especially when Grant hired her because he thought I was slacking and having her around would help me step up." She added the last part tightly, her jaw tensing.

Oliver couldn't help but snort, rubbing a hand over his face. "Right, I'm sure his hiring her had nothing to do with anything else."

She frowned and looked up at him, cocking her head curiously, "what do you think it had to do with?"

He raised his eyebrows a little. "They're dating, right?"

"Well, yes..." she told him then she finally understood where he was going with this and sighed, rolling her eyes, "well, there is definitely no competition there."

Oliver frowned at her. "What do you mean by _that_?"

Chloe just gave him a look at that and pushed the door to the coffee shop open then stepped inside, she was _not_ going to discuss her body image issues with him.

His frown deepened as he followed her inside the restaurant and glanced around before resting his hand at the small of her back and guiding her toward a booth at the back, away from the only other patrons in the place.

She glanced over at him but let him lead her toward the back, taking a seat on one of the sides of the booth once they reached the one furthest away from anyone else.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly as he sat down, leaning back in the booth.

Chloe watched him for a moment, "they do have teas," she offered, knowing he wasn't a big coffee person.

A faint smile touched his mouth and he cocked his head to the side. He wasn't sure _how_ she knew that, considering Dinah still tried to get him to drink coffee every morning. "Great."

She smiled a little at him and sat back against her side of the booth, "is Dinah in town too?"

He nodded a little. "She's out patrolling," he told her, lowering his voice a little.

"Oh, good," she nodded a little then frowned, "and why aren't you?"

"Be kind of suspicious if Green Arrow showed back up in town the same night as Oliver Queen," he said, leaning his arms on the table. "And Dinah likes to work alone."

"That's true," she then frowned a little, "so you two _never_ patrol together?"

Oliver shrugged. "On occasion, if something big is going down. But she really doesn't need my help."

"Do you prefer it that way too?" She asked, cocking her head a little.

"Sometimes," he told her. "But you know me. I'm a team player."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she told him quietly, watching him closely. It didn't sound to her like _she_ was the one who was settling but she had never seen them interacting as a couple before so she didn't know how things really were between them. "So are you planning on telling me what brought you to Metropolis?"

He nodded a little, glancing up when a waitress approached. "I'll have an iced tea," he told her.

Chloe looked up at the girl too and smiled a little, "I'll have a double shot mocha with skim milk and whip." She told her.

When the girl headed away, he turned his attention back to Chloe. "I'm mostly here for some Queen Industries business, but..." He leaned forward a little. "I may have had a slight ulterior motive."

"Okay," she took a deep breath and held his gaze, "what's going on?"

"What would you say if I asked you to join the team on a more full-time basis?"

She paused and cocked her head a little, "I would say you could have asked me that over the phone?" She answered, unsure.

"Touche. But I have it under good authority it's harder to say no to me in person." He flashed her a grin.

Chloe smirked at that, "so you came in already expecting I'd say no?"

He shrugged a little, still grinning. "You have a way of catching me off guard."

She couldn't help but smile, even if just a little, at him. Then she leaned her arms on the table, her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she watched him closely, "okay, well, you'll need to tell me more about this if you expect an answer."

Oliver was slightly surprised she hadn't already shot him down. "The usual, just...more of it," he admitted. "But with better pay and benefits. And I'd like to train you." He wasn't even sure where _that_ had come from, because he hadn't planned to say it. But the moment he did, he realized she _needed_ to be trained. Considering how much trouble tended to follow her around.

"Train me?" She frowned, looking over at him, "why?" It wasn't like she was out there in the field and on top of that, a flash of the one time she walked in on Oliver shirtless, covered in sweat, doing yoga came to mind and she knew any kind of training with him would be highly... inappropriate.

"Because you never know when you might need it," he said honestly.

"I don't know, Oliver, I'm not completely helpless if I need to be out there, besides, how can you train me anyway? You live in Star City," she pointed out, shifting on her seat.

"I don't think you're helpless," he assured her. "Believe me, that's the last thing I think about you. But I'm going to be here in the city for awhile. At least long enough that I could teach you a few things."

Chloe stared at him for a moment then pursed her lips together, shaking her head a little, she was about to say something when the waitress brought them their drinks, so she took her time to sip on it before looking at him again, "I'll think about it," she told him.

"Fair enough." Oliver nodded a little, taking a drink of his tea and keeping his eyes on her.

On her part, she kept her eyes on her coffee, then without thinking about it, picked up some whipped cream on her finger then brought it into her mouth, "so why else are you here?"

That wasn't distracting at all. He swallowed hard, quickly diverting his eyes to his drink and taking a long sip. "Vic got word of a new project you know who was working on."

Chloe didn't like the look on his face at all. She cocked her head, "okay, what kind of project?"

"Not entirely sure yet. But I figured I'd look into it while I'm here." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

"Regardless of my status, I will want to help with that." She told him, sitting up and keeping her eyes on him as she sipped on her coffee once more.

Oliver nodded, meeting her eyes once more. "I thought you might say that." He reached into his pocket and fished out a small flash drive, sliding it across the table to her.

She arched her eyebrows and took the flash drive, looking at it then sliding it into her purse and turning back to Oliver, "glad I didn't disappoint."

"You never have," he told her with a wink.

Chloe rolled her eyes and smirked at him, sipping on her coffee once more, "so is anyone else coming for this reunion?"

"Not unless we find something we'll need help stopping. AC's in Miami, Vic's in Central America and Bart is..." He checked his watch. "Probably south of the border on his nightly burrito run."

"Okay," she nodded, "I'm ahead on work anyway so I'll take the rest of the night and morning off and look into it and if I do, I guess we can meet somewhere tomorrow and compare notes."

Oliver nodded, as well. "Sounds like a good plan." He smiled at her, thinking of the rather large sum of money he'd already deposited into her bank account. "I'll walk you to your car."

Chloe nodded a little and reached for her wallet, leaving some cash on the table, "and don't say anything, I can buy you tea," she warned before he had a chance to then pick up her coffee and stand up.

A faint smirk touched his mouth and he held his hands up in mock surrender. "I didn't say a word."

"I know you," she smirked, pulling her purse over her shoulder then heading to the door.

He watched her head away for a moment, a grin on his mouth.

Yeah. She did.


	2. Chapter 2

The following night, Chloe left the Planet just after six and made her way to the Clocktower a couple of blocks away. She hadn't been able to find a whole lot of information just yet, but she did have some of it, so she texted Oliver and let him know she was stopping by.

She pressed the buzz just to let him know she was there then punched in her code and waited for the elevator to make its way to the top floor. She was glad Oliver had shown up the previous day, with Clark pretty much on vacation with Lana and all of the team away from Metropolis, she hadn't been doing nearly as much as she would have liked on the Watchtower front.

When Chloe had texted him, Oliver had put on a pot of hazelnut coffee to brew and sent Dinah a text to let her know they had company on the way, even though she was off somewhere shopping. He grinned when he heard the buzzer and then the sound of the elevator approaching.

As the doors slid open, she pushed the gate out of the way and stepped into the Clocktower, smiling when she saw him standing there, waiting for her, "oh, good, you have clothes on," she teased, having walked in on him half naked more than once.

His eyes widened a little at that. "You know, not too many people would actually _complain_ about seeing me without clothes on." He smirked at her.

"I think we've established the fact that I'm not 'many people'," she told him, looking around the apartment then smirking at him, "where is Dinah?"

"Touche." He smiled. "She's out shopping." He shrugged.

Chloe looked at him for a moment then nodded slightly, "well, I don't have a lot for you," she admitted.

"That's all right. Always good to see a friendly face. I'm making coffee," he told her, motioning her toward the sofa.

"You are?" She cocked her head a little, making her way to sit down, "I'm surprised you even have some..."

He grinned at the expression on her face. "I take care of my team members," he informed her.

"Oh, so the coffee is a bribe?" She asked, smirking a little as she leaned back against the couch and watched him closely.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he responded innocently, sitting down beside her.

Chloe smirked some more and cocked her head, looking at him, "I still don't have an answer for you, and while I will take the coffee, the deposit in my account is highly exaggerated, Oliver." She added, growing serious at the last part.

He rolled his eyes. "On the contrary, Sidekick. You work hard and you never tell me no when I need something."

"I would be a horrible sidekick if I did," she pointed out, finding that she had enough money to buy a new car on her new account overnight had been more than a little surprising that morning, "I've been doing this for a while and I wasn't used to actually getting paid for it until you came along."

He smiled a little at that. "Well, I can afford to pay you for it," he pointed out. "And it makes me feel less guilty when I have to call you at three in the morning when I'm in a different country because I need you to find something out for me that I can't find out for myself."

"Well, you don't have to feel guilty about that regardless," she promised him, watching him closely, "I like helping you and the team."

"And I'm glad you do," he said honestly, gazing back at her. "We'd be kinda lost without you."

"Ditto," she said sincerely, smiling softly at him then straightening up and reaching for a folder inside her purse. "Like I said, I don't have much, but I think I found _something_."

Nodding, he smiled back and shifted closer to look at the file she'd pulled out. "What is it?"

She opened the folder on her lap and pulled out a sheet, "it's called Project Gemini," she told him, glancing over at him, "a while back, he had Project Ares, that's where he had Lana cloned, the clone was killed in the explosion," she told him, "but with Gabriel Grant being a clone too, I think there is a connection between the two."

"So it's another cloning project," he murmured, studying the sheet in her hands.

"I think so, I left my computer at home trying to break through the firewalls, hopefully I will have more than just the name of the project tonight," she told him, holding the sheet out to him.

He took it from her, reading it over and nodding a little as he chewed the inside of his cheek. "This is good. It's more than we had," he told her with a soft smile. "Thank you."

Chloe nodded a little and took a deep breath, "more than what I had before you handed me that flash drive too," she told him, watching him closely, "at least you know for sure it wasn't a wasted trip."

Oliver glanced up, meeting her eyes. "Never a wasted trip if you get to see friends," he told her.

Chloe held his gaze and nodded a little, "yeah, well maybe we can actually do something social while you're in town."

"Yeah?" He smiled. "I'd like that."

"Yeah," she said quietly, not sure why she was even suggesting this since she and Oliver never really hung out before, but she always enjoyed talking to him.

"Maybe we could grab some actual dinner," he suggested.

"Pizza is a perfectly good dinner," she smirked. They always had pizza after the mission, mostly because it was the only place that delivered at two in the morning.

Oliver smirked at that, raising an eyebrow. "I was thinking more along the lines of a nice restaurant before the wee morning hours."

"You mean having dinner _before_ midnight?" She looked at him in mock confusion, "I don't understand how that works."

He chuckled softly, rising to his feet. "I'll pour you some coffee. Still like hazelnut, right?" He hoped so considering he'd sent her a rather large supply of it after their last mission.

"Yes, I do," she told him, her eyes bright, "that was some of the most amazing coffee I've ever had." She admitted.

He grinned brightly at her statement. "Glad I can pick out the good stuff even if I don't drink it."

"It really is a shame you don't, considering you obviously have good taste when it comes to coffee," she told him, standing up too and following him to the kitchen.

"I have good taste when it comes to a lot of things," he told her, pulling down a clean mug from the cabinet and pouring the coffee into it.

"Yeah? What other examples do you have?" She asked, cocking her head a little.

"Food," he told her, raising his eyebrows. "Cars." He glanced back at her. "Friends." He smiled.

She grinned softly and rolled her eyes at him, "I do approve of your orange car," she admitted, leaning back against one of the counters.

"Oh yeah? Is that your favorite color?" he asked, handing the coffee over to her.

"It is," she admitted, taking the mug from him and taking a deep breath to smell the coffee, then smiling, "the smell is almost as good as the taste."

He watched her, enjoying the way her whole face lit up when she smiled.

Chloe sipped on the coffee, which she normally liked with a lot of sugar and cream, but this one was good enough on its own, "so since you have good taste in food too, where do you wanna go for lunch?"

"Oh. Well, what sounds good?" he asked, leaning against the counter and raising his eyebrows.

"Coffee?" She teased then shifted a little, "did you wanna go tonight?" She asked, then added, "is Dinah coming back soon?"

He smirked at her. "That's not technically food, Chloe." There was amusement in his voice. "She'll be back later, I'm sure."

"Says you," she told him, sipping on her coffee once more, "we can wait for her?" She suggested, not liking the complete lack of interest Oliver seemed to have every time he talked about his fiancee. If things really were that bad, she'd have to intervene, but she wouldn't be able to know for sure unless she watched the two of them interacting.

"Sure. I just don't know exactly when she'll be back," he admitted, shrugging a little. "Should we invite Jimmy?"

"Oh, sure," she nodded, arching her eyebrows, "he should still be at work, I can check and see if he can make it."

"Great." He smiled, though it was a little fainter than before.

"Maybe you should let Dinah know? Make sure she can make it too?" Chloe suggested, sipping on her coffee again then pulling her phone from her pocket to text Jimmy.

"Oh. Yeah, that's a good idea." He reached out and picked his phone up off the counter, sending her a quick text before setting it back down once more.

Chloe did the same and slid her phone back in her pocket before picking up her coffee once more and smiling up at Oliver, "should be nice, you haven't met Jimmy yet, have you?"

"I don't think so," he said, shaking his head a little. "Just from what you've told me." And what Lois had told him--which hadn't been too kind, frankly.

"Well, I apologize in advance if he's too eager," Chloe said, arching her eyebrows, "he'll probably be very excited to meet you."

Oliver couldn't help but grin a little at that. "Thanks for the warning."

She grinned back at him and her phone buzzed in her pocket, she pulled it out and her smile slipped a little when she read the reply, "I guess it will have to wait a while longer before you meet him, he said he's already going to happy hour with work people."

His own phone buzzed and he picked it up, raising his eyebrows a little. "And Dinah's meeting friends for dinner." He looked over at her. "Guess it's just the two of us."

"I guess it is," she agreed, relaxing a little and feeling a little less rejected now that Dinah couldn't make it either, "we don't have to wait, then."

Oliver nodded, smiling at her. "Sounds good." He headed out of the kitchen and toward the elevator. "And Chloe?"

"Yeah?" She asked, picking up her purse from the couch then following him.

"This time _I'm_ buying."

She grinned but rolled her eyes, brushing past him and into the elevator. Maybe it was a good thing their significant others couldn't make it, she had the feeling that a double date would have been more awkward than not, and she just wanted to have a nice dinner with a good friend.

* * *

A little over three hours later found them still at the restaurant halfway through a bottle of Bordeaux and he grinned at her across the table as he took another drink. "And then he threw up on my shoes." He smirked a little.

Chloe laughed softly and relaxed against her seat, "that sounds like an amazing high school existence," she told him, feeling more than a little relaxed and even mellow, something she never really felt.

"Well, it wasn't quite as exciting or terrifying as your high school existence, apparently." He raised his eyebrows.

"Nooo," she agreed, shaking her head, "not many are, though," she told him, sipping on her drink, "but even with all of that going on, I never thought it would get this big, you know?"

He cocked his head a little. "You mean with Lex, or Clark, or everything in general?"

"With them, mostly," she nodded a little, "he was actually a seemingly nice guy then. Lex," she clarified. "Or maybe I was just more naive," she added with a smile.

He pursed his lips at that, considering. "Maybe he got better for awhile," he murmured, recalling all the stories that Clark had told him.

"Well, whatever that was, it's long gone," Chloe pointed out, her expression becoming serious.

Oliver nodded a little, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table as he gazed at her. "Yeah, it is," he agreed quietly, growing somber once more, as well.

Chloe sipped on her drink once more, lost in thought and was comfortable for a moment until his phone rang. She lifted her head and smiled softly at him, watching him for a moment. Maybe she was a little drunk...

Sighing softly, he pulled it from his pocket and pressed it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" Dinah demanded.

Frowning when she heard the woman's loud voice from the other side of the table, Chloe sat up and watched him closely.

He grimaced a little. "I'm still at dinner," he told her.

There was a pause, and then "you've been at dinner for _three hours_ by yourself?"

Oliver rolled his eyes a little at that, wondering if she'd even read the text he'd sent. "No, I'm here with Chloe, remember?"

"You're still with Chloe? Again?"

Chloe heard her name from both sides and shifted a little on her seat uncomfortably, sipping on more of her drink.

His jaw tightened just a little. "You did say you were going out with friends of your own tonight."

"Except one of us is home at a decent time and the other one is not."

Oliver glanced at his watch, frowning a little. "It's barely after nine."

"I'm going on patrol, one of us should," Dinah told him before hanging up.

He blinked, pulling the phone away from his ear and staring at it for a moment.

"...Everything okay?" Chloe asked, biting down on her bottom lip and watching him closely.

"She's apparently in a bad mood." He sighed softly, setting his phone on the table and picking up his glass, finishing off the wine in one big gulp.

Chloe made a face and nodded a little, "we should probably head out," she told him.

"Sorry," he told her sincerely, managing to offer her half a smile.

She smiled softly and shook her head a little, blinking as her vision got slightly blurry. Not good. "It's okay, we've been here for a while."

"Yeah, I guess we have." He pulled out his wallet.

Chloe smiled softly at that and reached for her water, sipping on it to try and clear her head some.

"Want me to call you a cab?" he asked, remembering she'd left her car at the Planet and walked to the clocktower from there.

"No, I can walk back," she assured him, "I probably won't drive back tonight anyway." Not when she was afraid to stand up.

His eyebrows furrowed. "Do you have someplace to stay in the city?"

"I can crash at Jimmy's," she told him, smiling softly. She didn't really like doing it because his apartment was even messier than her own and on top of that, he tended to play video games really loudly until four in the morning but it was better than driving.

He relaxed a little, nodding and returning her smile with one of his own. "All right." He rose to his feet, holding his hand out to her to help her up. "I had a good time tonight."

Chloe took his hand, grateful for the offer and nodded as she stood up slowly, "so did I," honestly, she hadn't felt this relaxed in a very long time and she guessed it wasn't entirely thanks to the alcohol.

Oliver's fingers closed around hers instinctively as she climbed to her feet. "Good," he murmured.

"Thanks for dinner," she told him as they started toward the exit.

"You're very welcome," he assured her.

Chloe took a deep breath once they were outside, the chilly air making her feel a little more alert, "I guess we go our opposite ways from here." She told him, glancing at the Planet.

He frowned a little. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's a block and half," she smirked, "besides, sounds like you're in enough trouble as is."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me." He nudged her lightly with his elbow. "All right. I'll talk to you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, I'll let you know what my computer has for us when I make my way to Smallville," she promised, "and good luck." She told him, nodding toward the Clocktower and nudging him back.

"Thanks." He smiled faintly and watched her head away for a moment before tucking his hands into his pockets and heading in the opposite direction.

Chloe took a deep breath and rubbed a hand over her face as she started to head toward the Planet. She pulled out her phone and called Jimmy's number, not entirely surprised when it went to voicemail, "hey, it's me. I can't really make the drive back to Smallville tonight, mind if I crash at your place? Text me back if you're still out, I got my key. See you later." She told him before hanging up.

"Give me your purse," a man ordered a few seconds later, stepping in front of her.

She stilled, her eyes widening. She quickly looked around then back at him, "I don't have any money," which was mostly true, what she did have was a bunch of files on Lex and his projects and they were the only hard copies she had.

"Yeah, _right_ ," he snapped, pulling out a knife. "Hand it over."

"Okay, calm down," she told him, raising her hands, "I might have about twenty dollars but I have to keep my purse."

Glaring, he stepped toward her, backhanding her across the face and yanking her purse off her shoulder.

Chloe gasped and looked away but turned fast enough to hold on to her purse and tug it back toward her, "help!" She yelled as loudly as she could, hoping Clark would hear her.

But Clark didn't show.


	3. Chapter 3

It had only taken him ten minutes to make the trip from the clocktower to the hospital. His eyes were wide, his heart beating quickly as he rushed through the automatic sliding glass doors at the emergency room exit and up to the desk, ignoring the line of people already there. "I'm looking for Chloe Sullivan. I got a call that she was here."

The nurse looked over at him for a moment then down at her papers, "down the hall to the left." She told him.

Muttering a quick thanks, he tore off down the hallway, nearly colliding with a couple who wasn't quick enough to get out of his way. He'd gotten the call right after he'd fallen asleep on his sofa. A nurse said that they needed him to come down to Metropolis General -- that Chloe Sullivan had been attacked. And the fact that it was a nurse and not Chloe herself calling scared him.

"Oliver," Chloe called from where she was sitting on one of the beds.

He turned when he heard his name and came to a stand-still outside the doorway, his eyes wide. " _Chloe_."

"Hey," she winced a little, her arm in a brace and a bruise on her forehead, "I'm really sorry they called you. Clark and Jimmy weren't picking up."

"Jesus. What happened?" he whispered, stepping into the room and moving to her side, his chest tight.

"Mugger?" She winced. "I fought him. He won, obviously... it's not broke or anything, just a big cut."

"Oh, Chloe." His face twisted into an expression of guilt. "I'm so sorry. God." Her cheek was swollen already, too.

"I'm okay," she promised, smiling a little, "this doesn't even rank top fifty on my worst hospital visits, but they wouldn't let me leave here without someone being with me because of the painkillers and Lois is out of town..."

"Yeah, of course. You can stay at the clock tower," he said without hesitation.

"Oh..." her eyes widened a little, "I don't wanna cause issues with Dinah..."

"Hey." He reached out and gently laid his hand on her uninjured arm. "Look at me. You're hurt. The least we can do is give you a place to stay for the night."

She took a deep breath and nodded a little. Not like she could drive anyway and she still hadn't heard back from Jimmy. "My purse is gone... I had files on Lex in it."

"It's all right," he assured her, gently rubbing her arm. "Don't worry about it, Chloe."

She pursed her lips together and nodded a little, "thanking for coming." She said quietly.

"Of course," he said, shaking his head a little. "How long have you been here?"

"I don't know, about an hour? It happened right after you left, I was just around the corner..."

He winced. " _Shit_." He knew he should've walked her to the Planet.

Chloe shook her head a little and frowned at his expression, "it's not your fault, Oliver. And I'm fine anyway."

He shifted closer to her, gently lifting his hand to her face and turning her head a little to get a better look at the bruising there. "This is the second time you've gotten hurt on my watch."

She winced a little at the soreness then frowned at Oliver, "it's _not_ your fault and it wasn't your watch. Don't do this to yourself."

Oliver exhaled slowly, meeting her eyes. "They gave you decent painkillers at least, right?"

"Yeah," she whispered, watching him for a moment, "did you and Dinah talk?"

"She's out patrolling," he told her. "She won't be home til later."

"I'll stay out of your way," Chloe promised, looking up at him.

"You won't be in the way," Oliver assured her, shaking his head a little. "Can you walk?" There was uncertainty in his voice.

"Yeah," she told him, pushing herself from the bed, "my legs are fine, it's mostly my arm, but like I said, I'm okay."

He chewed the inside of his cheek, ready to help her down if she needed it, regardless of what she said. "I'll call a cab if you want to wait here."

Chloe frowned at that and shook her head a little, "how did you get here?" She asked.

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "I ran," he admitted.

Her eyes widened, "... that's almost ten blocks."

"I wasn't sure driving was the best idea."

At that, she stopped then shook her head a little, "what exactly did they tell you?" She asked, then realizing just how scared he had looked when he first got there.

"That you'd been attacked and I needed to come down here," he told her, blowing out a breath.

Chloe sighed softly and shook her head, "I'm sorry, Ollie. I would have called but my phone is gone too..."

"It doesn't matter. All that matters now is that you're alright," he said sincerely.

She nodded a little, "let's just get out of here," she told him quietly, "I already signed all the papers."

"All right." He rested his hand lightly at the small of her back. "Come on."

With another deep breath, she nodded a little and walked outside with him, "I'll just pass out and be out of there by morning," she promised.

"Chloe, it's _fine_ ," he said softly. "I have five guest rooms. Don't even worry about it."

Chloe nodded a little, adjusting the strap over her shoulder then pursing her lips together before stepping outside, "okay, I just don't wanna be in your way."

"You won't be," he assured her again, shaking his head and flagging down a cab for them.

She smiled a little then made her way into the car as he opened the door for her, then sat down and adjusted her arm a little, there was a deep, long cut from her upper arm all the way down to the inside of her elbow so she couldn't really move it for a week or so until the stitches had healed. She was pretty sure she was just going to pass out as soon as she laid down, she just hoped she didn't make things worse for him and Dinah.

* * *

Oliver glanced over at Chloe as the cab pulled up in front of the clocktower. She had her head resting lightly against his shoulder, her eyes drooping shut. "Hey," he whispered. "Come on, let's get you upstairs and you can sleep better there." He handed the driver some cash.

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, lifting her head, "hm," she murmured, rubbing her hands over her face and looking up at him then sliding after him and pausing at the door, looking up at him with big, sleepy eyes.

"Come on, Sidekick." He smiled softly at her tired expression, sliding his arm around her waist and helping her out of the car.

Chloe leaned heavily against him and wrapped an arm around him too, trying hard to keep her eyes open, "tired," she whispered.

He nodded a little. "Almost time to sleep," he assured her, helping her up to the door.

She nodded a little and leaned her head against her shoulder, closing her eyes even as she walked, not realizing she was pressing her nose against his neck.

Oliver swallowed hard at that, opening the door and then leaning down, scooping her up and into his arms carefully.

Chloe sighed softly and curled up against him, lifting her good arm and wrapping it around his neck. "Good friend, Ollie." She murmured, not opening her eyes.

He smiled a little, carrying her into the elevator. "I try," he said softly, pressing the button for the top floor.

She nodded a little, turning her head into his neck again and hugging closer as she got more comfortable in his arms.

"I'm really sorry," he whispered, leaning back against the wall.

"Why?" She whispered back at him sleepily.

Oliver cradled her closer to him instinctively. "That you got hurt. I should have walked you back to the Planet."

"No," she said as firmly as she could and lifted her head, opening her eyes, "don't."

"I don't like seeing you get hurt," he told her.

"I'm okay," she said tiredly, watching him closely even though her eyes were unfocused. "'s not your fault."

"You're gonna be sore in the morning," he warned softly, carrying her off the elevator when it stopped.

"I have a prescription," she whispered, laying her head back down on his shoulder and closing her eyes again.

"That's good." He looked down at her for a moment and then carried her through the living room and toward the hallway.

"Ollie," she whispered, snuggling a little more and sighing deeply.

"Yeah?" He pushed open one of the guest room doors with his foot, not bothering with the light.

Chloe shrugged a little and shook her head, "thank you," she whispered quietly, holding on to him.

A soft smile touched his mouth. "You're welcome," he told her, gently placing her in the bed.

She shifted a little and hugged him to her. "Lucky you're here." She murmured.

Oliver pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. He just wished he'd been there _before_. "Get some rest."

"What the hell is going on here?" Dinah asked, reaching for the light and turning it on.

He glanced over his shoulder at his fiancee and frowned. "Turn the light back off," he said, reaching down and pulling the covers up and over Chloe.

But she didn't, she walked further into the room and frowned more, "Chloe?" She looked at Oliver, "what is _she_ doing here and what are you doing in bed with her?"

Chloe opened her eyes slightly and cocked her head, "Dinah?"

He rolled his eyes, his jaw tightening a little. "She's _hurt_. She got attacked, and she's staying here for the night."

She shifted uncomfortably on the bed and forced her eyes open some more to look at Oliver, "I can go..." she whispered.

Dinah rolled her eyes too, "drunk is more like it," she snapped, "I've seen enough." She told her, turning around and left the room but didn't bother turning off the lights.

"Relax," he said softly to Chloe. "Just lie down and get some rest. Don't worry about anything else. It'll be fine." He gave her a quick, soft smile before rising to his feet.

Chloe sighed deeply and nodded a little, "thank you," she whispered again.

"You're welcome. Rest," he said softly, flipping the lights off once more and pulling the door shut behind him.

"Explain," Dinah said as soon as he was out of the bedroom, her arms crossed across her chest.

He narrowed his eyes at her, moving past her and down the hallway toward the living room. If they were going to have a fight, it wasn't going to be where Chloe could overhear it. "I already did." His voice was icy.

She followed him, heels clicking on the floor since she was still wearing her uniform, "I know what you're like, Oliver, and I know exactly what you're doing." She accused tightly.

He turned to face her once more. "Looking after a friend who got assaulted? Yeah, I'm _such_ a bastard."

"Stop _lying_ to me!" She told him, "you were out to dinner with her for how many hours? You got her drunk, you _wanted_ me to see you two in bed, didn't you!?"

"Oh, Jesus. You're being ridiculous and paranoid again."

"Am I, Oliver? Do you really think I have no reason to be? With _you_ and your _past_?"

His jaw tightened. "You knew about my past before we _ever_ started this thing between us, Dinah. If it's a problem now all of a sudden, maybe that's something you need to figure out how to deal with."

"You know how to deal with it," she told him, glaring at him, "keep your pants on and your hands to yourself and we don't have an issue."

"In case you failed to notice? My pants _are_ on," he said, glaring back at her.

"I have noticed," she said, looking him up and down, "what I can't be sure of is if it would have stayed that way."

"If that's how you really feel, then maybe we should call off this engagement," he responded distantly.

"Is that what you want? Are you just taking the easy out?" She asked, arching her eyebrows.

"Well, Dinah, you're the one standing here throwing around accusations. Isn't that what _you_ want me to do?" He folded his arms across his chest.

"No," she said tightly, staring at him, "I want you to at least pretend you care."

"That'd be a lot easier if you didn't get upset over every single thing I do." He stared back at her.

Dinah stared at him, "you're the one who had fucked up time and again, Oliver. You told me what happened with your previous fiance, what do you expect from me?"

"To stop holding my past mistakes against me would be a nice start," he responded evenly.

"That will come with time, and acting like you did today isn't going to make it any easier," Dinah told him just as evenly.

"You're not the only one who has friends," he informed her.

"I'm not the one tucking my friends into bed and giving them goodnight kisses."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I'm going to bed." He moved past her and down the hall.

"You should pick one of the guest rooms," she called after him, arching her eyebrows.

"Oh, I was planning on it," Oliver said without hesitation, not turning to look at her.

Dinah rolled her eyes and shook her head, running out to the balcony and jumping off it a second later.

He raked a hand through his hair before heading into the guest room across from the one that Chloe was staying in, his jaw tight as he sank down on the edge of the bed. He rubbed his hands over his face tiredly.

He was going to have a headache in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

Clark entered the penthouse, his eyes wide, "Chloe?" He called, "Oliver?" He had been looking for her for almost an hour, since Jimmy had called him asking if he knew where she was, and then he called again, telling him about the front page of the inquisitor and he knew exactly where to look.

Oliver groaned softly, swallowing down his aspirin and taking a gulp of orange juice before setting the glass on the counter and moving toward the living room. "Clark?"

"Where is she?" He asked, eyes wide.

His eyebrows furrowed for the briefest moment. "Oh. Chloe. She's sleeping," he said with a soft sigh.

"Why? Why hasn't she been answering our calls? Her boyfriend is worried about her." He said firmly.

"Because she's sleeping," he repeated, a little slower this time. "Plus she lost her phone."

"Lost it where? Why was she out with you last night?"

"Because we had dinner," he told Clark, picking up his glass of juice once more and taking a drink, his head throbbing, which was only made worse by what he had to tell the other man next. "She got mugged."

"She _what_?" Clark asked, staring at him, "what happened? Why didn't you stop them?"

"Because I wasn't with her when it happened." He leaned against the counter. "We split ways after dinner." There was more than a hint of guilt in his expression.

"Why is she still sleeping? What happened to her?" He asked again, worried this time.

"Her purse was stolen." Oliver winced a little, looking down. "The guy knocked her around."

"Why didn't she call me?" He frowned.

"I have no idea." He looked up at the other man once more.

"The papers are saying you two are dating," he said, staring Oliver down.

At that, his eyes widened a little. " _What_?"

"The Inquisitor has pictures of you talking outside a restaurant." He told him, jaw tight.

He rolled his eyes, relaxing. "It's The Inquisitor," he responded, finishing off his drink and setting his glass in the sink.

"It's not the only place," he walked closer to Oliver, "what's going on, Oliver? I didn't even know you were back in Kansas."

He narrowed his eyes at Clark. "I wasn't aware I had to run my travel plans by you, Clark."

"I just need to know when you're planning on putting my best friend in danger." He said tightly.

"He didn't put me in danger, Clark." Chloe said tiredly as she made her way down the hall.

Oliver turned toward her, a worried expression on his face. "How are you feeling?" His voice dropped.

"Sore," she told him, looking from him to Clark, "what's going on?"

"What happened to you?" He asked with wide eyes.

He looked at Clark with an annoyed expression before shaking his head and turning to pick up the bottle of aspirin. "Want aspirin? Or more of the painkillers?"

"I don't have anymore," she admitted, "I have to get my prescription filled later, so I'll take aspirin," she told Oliver, smiling a little then turning to Clark, "a mugger had a knife, I tried to react, it was stupid, but I'm okay." She told him.

He held the bottle out to her and pulled down another glass, filling it with water and holding it out to her, as well.

"Why didn't you call for me?" Clark asked, shaking his head.

"I did." She said firmly but quieter than before as she turned to Oliver and took the glass, "thank you."

Oliver held his breath for a moment, nodding a little and turning his gaze to Clark, his jaw tight.

"Are you sure? I always hear you, Chloe."

"Yes, Clark, I'm sure," she took a long drink of the water then took a deep breath, "it's not a big deal, like I said, I'm fine."

"Maybe you were a little too busy," Oliver said evenly, leaning against the counter once more.

"Like you were?" Clark demanded, glaring at Oliver.

"Clark, don't." She warned, "I will talk to you later when I get to Smallville okay?"

Oliver's eyes darkened as he glared back at Clark, but held back for the time being. They could have this particular discussion later. He glanced over at Chloe, forcing himself to draw in a deep breath.

"Jimmy is worried about you, he's been looking for you," Clark told her, "call me as soon as you get out of here," he added in a lower voice, then sped out.

Chloe took a deep breath and drank the rest of her water. In her nearly asleep, mostly drugged out state the previous night, she had heard the argument between Oliver and Dinah. He definitely didn't need to put up with Clark on top of everything else she had caused him. "I'm sorry about that." She said quietly before glancing at him.

He shook his head a little, waving it off with one hand. "Don't worry about it. Clark and I won't ever see eye to eye on certain things."

"No, you won't," she agreed, "thank you for letting me stay, Oliver."

"You're welcome," he said sincerely, searching her eyes.

"I'm... really sorry about Dinah. I will talk to her if you want me to," she added awkwardly, "I didn't mean to cause problems."

He winced. "You heard that last night, huh?"

"I was kind of out of it, but yeah, I heard a little," she admitted, looking down then back at him, "and I will help you fix it however I can."

"Chloe..." He shook his head a little. "It wasn't about you. Don't feel bad."

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, "I should... go, anyway. I need to get my cards cancelled and everything."

"Yeah." His voice was soft. "If you have any trouble with any of it, let me know. Be happy to help you sort it out."

"Thank you," she tried for a smile, "I'll let you know as soon as I get a new phone," she said quietly, looking over at him.

Oliver nodded, holding her gaze for a moment. "Why don't I drive you to the Planet?" he suggested.

Chloe looked at him for a moment then took a deep breath and nodded a little, "I'd take a cab but I don't even have cash," and she was certainly not walking.

"I don't mind," he assured her softly. "Let me just grab my car keys."

"Thank you," she said quietly, adjusting the brace on her arm carefully and sighing softly.

It was going to be one hell of a long day.

* * *

Oliver could see the damage as soon as he pulled his car into the Planet's parking lot, his eyes wide with shock as he parked the vehicle a couple spaces away from Chloe's.

Chloe's eyes widened a little when she saw a few people in the parking lot, her car was in the center of the curious eyes but a couple cars around it seemed to be damaged too. She reached for the door and opened it almost instantly with her good hand then got out. "What happened?" She asked one of the nearby reporters.

One of them shrugged a little. "Vandals, apparently," he told her. "I've never been so glad to work the first shift before."

Oliver climbed out of his car slowly, his stomach tight as he glanced at the damaged cars that seemed to be untouched except for the broken glass.

She noticed that too, which was why she was avoiding looking at Oliver as she stepped forward, her stomach tight as she saw unmistakeable boots dents on the hood of her car. There was a very small chance that it _hadn't_ been Dinah. 

He followed her gaze to the hood of the car and his eyes narrowed, darkening at that. Involuntarily, his hands curled into fists at his sides. "I have to go," he said very quietly, just loud enough for Chloe to hear him.

"Wait," Chloe called, turning toward him and taking a single step after him before she was stopped by arms around her, she winced in pain and looked up to find it was Jimmy who was hugging her awkwardly sideways.

"You're okay, Chloe, I was so worried about you. Even CK didn't know where you were." He told her.

Oliver met her eyes for a brief moment, wincing when she did and swallowing hard. "I'm sorry," he mouthed, shaking his head and turning to go.

She sighed softly, watching Oliver walk away, back to her car then looked up at Jimmy, "I'm okay," she said quietly.

His eyes widened when he caught sight of her bruised face. "Oh my God. What happened? You look terrible!"

"...Thanks." She frowned up at him then shook her head a little, "I got mugged last night." She glanced sadly at her car then shook her head a little, "and then that happened, apparently."

Jimmy hugged her tightly once more. "At least you're okay. I was so worried!"

"Ow, Jimmy, careful," she winced again, pulling her arm away from him as well as she could.

"Sorry," he said quickly, shaking his head and pulling away from her. "You got mugged, you said? How? Where were you?"

"I was leaving the restaurant to come back here and wait for you to call me back," she admitted, "I was less than a block away."

"You were walking by yourself? After dark?" His eyes were wide.

"It was just a block and like I said, I'm fine," she promised, trying for a smile, "I just need to go to my bank and get some money out so I can get a new phone and get my car fixed..." she told him, listing everything she had to take care of in her head and making a mental note to ask Clark to see if he could find the papers.

"I think you better come inside first. Grant's not very happy that you're late," he told her, raising his eyebrows.

Of course he wasn't. She took a deep breath and nodded a little, losing her job would just make this whole thing complete. "Okay. Do you think you can give me a ride to Smallville later?"

He hesitated. "Yeah, sure. But before you go anywhere, I need to ask you something."

"Okay?" Chloe frowned a little, "what's wrong?"

"I think we should get married," he blurted out.

Her eyes widened and she just stared at him surely she had heard him wrong.

He raised his eyebrows. "I can't afford a ring yet," he admitted. "But we love each other and that's all that matters, right?"

She blinked a few times, her eyes widening even more, "you're serious?"

Jimmy nodded. "So what do you say? Will you marry me?"

* * *

Oliver raised the gate on the elevator lift and stepped into the penthouse suite, every muscle in his body tense. "Dinah!"

She was there, but she didn't answer, instead she continued doing her pushups and ignored him.

"You need to pack your things," he said coldly.

At that, she actually stopped and stood up then stared up at him, "is that so?"

"Yeah, that's so," he responded, his jaw tight. "What you did was a _crime_. The kind of thing we're supposed to _stop_ , not instigate. And don't try and deny you did it, because I'm not a goddamn idiot."

"I wasn't planning on it," she shrugged, "no one got hurt and she learned her lesson."

Oliver stared at her in disbelief. "Learned her lesson for _what_? Getting _mugged_? The guy nearly broke her arm, Dinah!"

"Minding her _own_ business." She said firmly, "I'm not a 'goddamn idiot' either, Oliver. I _know_ you wanted to come back to Metropolis to see her."

He snorted at that. "Chloe's a friend. Someone I work with and _respect_. Which is more than I can say about you at this point."

"Funny," she smirked, "you don't seem to respect anyone else as much as you do her."

He paused at that, staring at her for a moment. "Get your things, and find yourself another place to stay."

"That's what I thought," she glared at him before taking the ring off her finger and tossing it at him, "never should have taken it in the first place, I knew you wouldn't go through with it."

He ignored the ring as it hit him in the chest, watching as she headed down the hall. He wondered how the hell he could have been so wrong about a person.


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe took a deep breath when there was a knock on the door and moved her arm back on the sling, "come in," she called, her stomach tight. She had called Oliver and had asked him to come by. She didn't have a whole lot to give him since her research had been filled with dead ends, but she did want to talk to him.

It had been only a couple of days since everything happened, though and even though Oliver had already gotten a tow truck and a mechanic on working on her car before she'd even had the chance to, it still wasn't ready so she was stranded in Smallville for the time being.

He turned the door handle and stepped inside the apartment, glancing around until he spotted her on the couch. "Hey." He shut the door behind him. "How are you feeling?"

"Hey," she smiled a little and carefully placed her laptop over the coffee table before standing up, "it's better," she promised. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he assured her, offering her a small smile in return and nodding.

"Thank you for coming," she told him quietly.

Oliver nodded once more, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sure thing," he said just as quietly, spotting the bouquet of flowers he'd sent her set on the windowsill. He smiled a little, moving over toward them. "I wasn't sure what kind of flowers you liked best."

"Tulips," she admitted then smiled softly, looking over at the flowers too, "but those are all orange, they are beautiful. And you really didn't have to do that in the first place." Not only had he fixed her car, but he had had a phone sent to her before she could even make it to the store and get herself a new one.

"Yeah, I did," he told her, his chest tightening.

"No, you didn't," she said again, "I shouldn't have gone back to your apartment, Oliver. I'm really sorry I created a problem between you two."

"You didn't. Dinah's the one who caused the problem, Chloe, not you." He shook his head.

"Regardless," she said quietly, "I don't want to be the one causing conflict between you two so it's probably better if I decline your offer," she told him quietly, lifting her hand to adjust the sling.

His gaze followed her hand and he held his breath as he caught sight of the plastic ring on her finger. "Chloe?" He raised his eyebrows a little.

"Yea-- oh," she realized what he was staring at and shifted, smiling awkwardly and dropping her hand, "yeah... hm, it's a temporary ring."

"Jimmy proposed," he surmised.

"Yeah." She said quietly, not sure why this was making her so completely uncomfortable, "I haven't really told anyone yet."

He forced a smile, nodding a little. "Well, congratulations."

She smiled a little and nodded too, looking down then back at him, "thank you."

"You're welcome." He looked down, as well, chewing the inside of his cheek.

"Do you wanna sit down?" She offered, pursing her lips together.

Oliver shook his head a little, smiling faintly. "No, I don't wanna keep you," he said softly.

"You're not..." she told him quietly, not understanding why her chest felt tight all of the sudden, "I invited you over."

He gazed at her. "Are you happy?"

She stilled at that, looking down for a moment then back at him, "nothing has changed yet."

"What do you mean?" His voice was soft.

"It's just a ring," she told him, shifting slightly, "we don't live together or anything, I don't know. It doesn't feel any different."

Oliver was silent for a moment. "Are you guys going to get a place together beforehand?"

"I don't know," she admitted, looking away again, "we haven't really talked about much."

He nodded, watching her for a moment. "I'm sure there's plenty of time for all that," he murmured.

Chloe nodded and tried for a smile, then watched him right back, "are you okay?"

Oliver nodded, as well. "I'm fine. Was there something you wanted to see me about?" he asked uncertainly.

She kept her eyes on him for a moment longer then took a deep breath and nodded, making her way back toward the coffee table, "I haven't found much, but Vic might be able to decode these," she told him, picking up the flashdrive he'd given her almost a week ago and holding it out to him.

Their fingers brushed together as he took the flashdrive from her, holding his breath for a moment. "Thank you," he said softly.

Looking down, she nodded a little, "and, well, what I said earlier, about the full time position," she told him, hesitantly looking back at him, "I guess it's probably better if I stick to part time, remote work."

"If that's what you want," he said softly.

"I don't want to make things more complicated for you." She told him quietly, "and I don't want you to have to play mediator or anything."

"I'm really sorry that she did that to your car, Chloe." He exhaled slowly. "It should be fixed by tomorrow."

"It's _not_ your fault, Oliver. You have nothing to apologize for," she told him again. 

Oliver managed a faint, small smile as he nodded, looking down at the flashdrive.

"And thank you again for taking care of that and for sending me the phone, you really didn't have to worry about either." She said sincerely.

"It's the least I could do," he said just as sincerely. "I'm sorry about the headlines. If they caused you and Jimmy any problems..."

"They didn't," she promised, looking away again and taking a deep breath, "he didn't believe them," because apparently the first conclusion he'd reached was that Oliver Queen would never be interested in her.

He paused at that, cocking his head. "That's good, right?"

"Yeah," she answered automatically then smiled at him slightly.

He smiled a bit, too, nodding. "All right. Well, I should get back to Metropolis so I can get this on its way to Victor."

"Okay," she agreed, even though she didn't want him to leave, he had tried to get out of there twice already and she didn't want to make things worse on him than she already had, "let me know what he finds out."

"I will," he promised. "And thank you, again." He smiled faintly.

Chloe nodded slightly and took a deep breath, smiling a little and watching him closely.

"And congratulations." He turned to head toward the door, his chest feeling tight.

"Thank you," she whispered, pursing her lips together. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something felt off... wrong. And she also had the feeling she wouldn't be seeing him for a while.

* * *

Oliver laid down on his bed later that evening, shutting his eyes. It had been a hard and fast patrol, and he'd managed to take down two muggers, stop an attempted sexual assault, and a car-jacking. He was exhausted. He'd forgotten just how busy he stayed anytime he was patrolling in Metropolis. While Star City was also large, it didn't have the amount of violent crime of Metropolis. He didn't understand how Clark could have all the abilities he had and not try and do anything to help the larger population. It was frustrating.

He blew out a breath, half-asleep when he heard footsteps approaching his door. He sat up silently, reaching out and picking up his crossbow off the nightstand. Whoever had broken in, had really picked the wrong place to burglarize.

"Set it down," Dinah called, making her way down the hall and stopping by his bedroom door.

He narrowed his eyes at her familiar voice and lowered the bow. "What are you doing here?" he asked, rising to his feet.

"We should talk," she told him, stepping into the bedroom slowly.

He raised his eyebrows. "I don't really have anything left to say, Dinah."

She looked at him for a moment, "you asked me to _marry_ you, Oliver. To spend the rest of my life _with_ you and just because we both got pissed off, you want to just ignore all of it?"

He pursed his lips, staring at her. "What you did was wrong, Dinah." His voice grew more quiet. "There's nothing going on between Chloe and I. In fact, she's _engaged_ to another man."

"She is?" Dinah frowned, "who is she engaged to?"

"Jimmy Olsen. He's a photographer with the Daily Planet."

Dinah looked at him for a moment then shook her head, "it doesn't matter. I know I shouldn't have gone after her car, but I was frustrated, Oliver."

He studied her for a few seconds, then looked down. "I've never cheated on you, Dinah. I know my history isn't good, but I'm not that guy anymore."

She sighed softly and stepped closer, "that's why I came back."

Oliver looked up at her once more, falling silent.

"We can work it out, if we both want to," she added, lowering her voice and looking down at him as she stood by the bed.

He gazed at her, his chest tightening a little. "Do you _trust_ me?"

"On some levels," she nodded, "I'm working on the others."

"Then maybe we should take it slow," he said quietly, searching her eyes. "Get to know each other better and learn to trust one another."

Dinah nodded slowly, then smiled a little, "I do hope you mean take it slow on the engagement front..." she told him, stepping closer and pressing a knee to the bed.

His eyes darkened a little and he licked his lips involuntarily. "Yeah, that's what I meant," he whispered, sliding his arms around her waist.

She stared down at him for a moment then leaned down and kissed him, pushing him back on the bed as she laid down on top of him.


	6. Chapter 6

Oliver followed Dinah into the Italian restaurant _Pastabilities_ a few nights later. He reached up and adjusted his tie, glancing around the waiting area. It was still fairly crowded considering it was after eight, and he was starving. He'd spent the last few days working at his Q.I. office there in Metropolis, and he realized he was going to have to stay even longer than he'd intended because things there hadn't been functioning smoothly since one of the assistant managers had resigned unexpectedly. He glanced at Dinah, who was wearing a simple, short black dress and heels. She looked fantastic as always, but things still weren't _right_ between them, but they were working on it. She'd even promised to apologize to Chloe about her car.

"I told you there was gonna be a long wait," Chloe said, shifting on her heels as she looked down at Jimmy.

"Food is good, we'll wait," Jimmy said from where he was sitting.

He heard her familiar voice and turned, spotting her instantly in her dark green shirt and long black skirt and heels. "Chloe?" He raised his eyebrows a little.

Chloe paused and turned around, looking behind her, "Oliver?" She said quietly, surprised. It was Friday night so a lot of people were out to dinner, but he was the last person she'd expected to run into. She hadn't really spoken to him in over a week with the exception of a couple of emails.

He smiled faintly, nodding at her. "Hey." He glanced past her to where Jimmy stood. "You must be Jimmy."

Jimmy stared at him with wide eyes. "You're Oliver Queen."

"Hey," she greeted, smiling a little then tentatively smiling at Dinah.

Dinah straightened and looked between the other couple then stepped closer to Oliver before trying for a smile back at Chloe.

Oliver slid his arm around Dinah's waist. "Nice to meet you," he said to Jimmy, holding out his free hand.

"Likewise." Jimmy's eyes were still wide as he shook Oliver's hand. "Wow." He looked at Dinah, his eyes widening a little more.

Dinah arched her eyebrows when she noticed he was staring at her and smirked a little, "Dinah," she introduced herself, holding out a hand.

Chloe didn't miss the looks her fiance was giving the other woman so she took a deep breath and shifted uncomfortably.

Oliver's jaw tightened just a little as he noticed the look on Chloe's face, the hurt that flashed over her features.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jimmy." He shook her hand, smiling brightly.

"Nice meeting you too, Jimmy," Dinah said silkily.

With a deep breath, Chloe stood up straight and turned her attention to Oliver, "I didn't know you were still in town."

Oliver smiled faintly, nodding. "Yeah, looks like we'll be here awhile longer," he told her. "The Queen Industries office needs some attention."

"Oh." She nodded slightly, "nothing bad, I hope?"

"No, the regional office manager resigned a few weeks ago," he explained. "So I need to get things in order and work on hiring someone else to fill the position. Nothing too major." He held her gaze.

"Good," she said sincerely, holding his gaze back and smiling slightly.

Jimmy glanced between them. "I keep forgetting you know each other because of Lois." He smiled, wrapping his arm around Chloe's waist.

Chloe glanced at Jimmy, a little surprised that he suddenly had his arm around her, he wasn't very comfortable with touching at all in public.

"Oh, right, you're Oliver's _ex_ 's cousin, I forgot about that," Dinah said.

"Yeah. Otherwise neither of us would know him," Jimmy said with a light chuckle.

Oliver's eyes narrowed just a little. "Actually, Chloe occasionally does some freelance computer work for Queen Industries," he informed Jimmy.

Chloe looked over at Oliver and smiled softly, "yeah, I started not long after he met Lois, I just applied for it," she told Jimmy, glancing at him.

"Oh. I didn't know that." Jimmy frowned a little, looking confused.

"Her help has saved me on more than one occasion," Oliver added, raising his eyebrows and returning Chloe's smile.

"But she hasn't been doing much anymore, right _Babe_ ," Dinah said, linking her arm with his, "since you have that computer specialist that works full time now." She turned to Jimmy, "he's amazing, it's like he talks to computers."

Oliver glanced at her sideways, his smile tight. "He is good with computers." He glanced at Jimmy and Chloe again. "We send him overseas a lot to work over there, though."

Chloe looked at Dinah, a little surprised, "and the Planet work has been keeping me busy a lot, so it works out," she said, holding Oliver's gaze, suddenly very uncomfortable.

He gave her an apologetic look, his eyes full of regret. "That's good, because you're a hell of a reporter," he told her quietly, glancing over when the maitre'd called his last name. "I guess that's us."

Her chest tightened a little and she wasn't sure why, "have a good dinner," Chloe told him quietly, trying for a smile.

"You, too, Chloe. Jimmy, nice to meet you," he said with a small smile, nodding at them.

"Likewise!" Jimmy said enthusiastically.

"Very nice meeting you," Dinah said, smiling at Jimmy then nodding at Chloe as she tugged on Oliver's arm and pulled him away from the other two.

Jimmy raised his eyebrows and looked at his fiancee. "How awesome was _that_?"

She took a deep breath and looked over at him, "can we just go home and come back when we have reservations?" She asked as she turned to face him.

He frowned. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied, "it's just been a long day and I'm really tired."

"Oh." His frown deepened and he looked longingly toward the tables. "Yeah, I guess that's okay."

"I'll call them tomorrow and make reservations for us," she promised, trying for a smile as she held her hand out to him.

He sighed softly, taking her hand and letting her lead him toward the door. What a bummer.

* * *

It was almost a whole week later when Chloe finally called Oliver again. She'd been hesitant to, but she knew she'd need help on this and apparently Clark was unavailable, something about going to visit Lana's aunt for the weekend.

So she waited until Jimmy was gone for the day and called Oliver's office, hoping he was there alone so she wouldn't have to deal with Dinah, who obviously didn't like her, and they could get their job done.

"Thank you," she told the secretary as she told her to hold.

A moment later, he picked up. "Chloe?" There was a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Hey," she greeted, taking a deep breath, "is this a bad time?"

"No, it's fine. What's up?"

"I found something." She said, knowing she didn't need to say more for him to understand her.

Oliver sat forward in his chair, glancing toward the door. "Would you be able to come over?"

"Yeah, I'm in Smallville but I can be there in a couple of hours," she said, already walking to the door and reaching for her shoes.

"Great. I'll meet you here then, okay?"

"Okay, I'll see you soon," she promised before hanging up, grabbing her purse and she was out the door.

* * *

Two hours later Oliver got a text from Chloe stating she was downstairs and the doors were locked. It was after hours, and he was fairly certain he was the only one still in the building, so he made his way down the elevator and to the lobby doors, opening one to let her in. "I need to get you a pass key for here," he commented, raising his eyebrows a little.

"Thank you," she said as she stepped inside, "and I would agree with that if you were in town more often." She told him, smiling a little.

He couldn't help but smile back at her. "Well, who knows? I might be here more often than planned."

"Well, as a life-long citizen of Kansas, you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like." She told him as they made their way down the hall toward the elevators.

Oliver grinned. "Was that an _official_ invitation?"

"Well, as official as a cube reporter for the Daily Planet can make it," she smirked. She felt so relaxed around him, she didn't know what it was, but he managed to always make her feel at ease.

"I'm honored," he told her with a wink, resting his hand at the small of her back and guiding her into the elevator.

Chloe let him lead her into the elevator car then turned toward him, "good to know."

He held her gaze. "How's the arm?" he asked softly.

"Pretty healed," she told him, pulling her arm off her jacket and showing him the long scar down her inner arm, "one more for my collection."

Oliver reached out and gently touched it, his chest tightening a little.

She winced a little but didn't pull away, "sorry," she told him, looking up at him, "it doesn't hurt but it feels weird to touch."

"It doesn't," he said quietly, looking up and meeting her eyes.

"I meant for me," she said quietly, smiling a little as she held his gaze.

"Oh." He ducked his head, smiling faintly at that. "Right."

She grinned softly at that, dropping her arm to her side, "long day?"

"Kind of," he admitted, nodding.

"I won't stay long," she promised, looking at the doors as they slid open and stepping out of the elevator.

"Oh, that's not a big deal. As long as I don't have to look at any more funding statements, we're good." He grinned.

"Well, that's definitely not what I'm here for," she assured him, smiling up at him and stepping aside so he could lead the way.

His hand fell to the small of her back once more and he guided her down the hallway toward his office. "How've you been?" he asked, raising his eyebrows a little.

"Not bad," she told him quietly, looking up at him, "haven't been looking at funding statements," she said, smiling a little, "how about you?"

He smiled at her. "All right," he said with a slight nod.

"How have things been out there?" She asked, glancing at him, "you have been going out, right?"

Oliver nodded. "Yeah, pretty much nightly. It's busy," he admitted. "I forgot how busy it could get."

"Yeah, it's been... not great here lately, I'm guessing it's not as busy in Star City?" She asked, cocking her head a little to look at him.

"It's not. Thankfully." He let out a breath. "Any idea what the surge in crime is about?"

"Well, my best guess is because the Blur hasn't been around as much," she admitted, "people aren't so afraid of getting caught?"

He grimaced a little. "Maybe I should go have a chat with Clark while I'm here."

"I've talked to him," she sighed as they walked into the office, "you're free to give it a try but as long as Lana doesn't change her mind about Clark keeping a schedule so they can spend time together, I don't think it will do any good."

"What the hell does he see in her?" He shook his head a little. "Is she really _that_ self-centered?"

"Kind of?" Chloe winced and shrugged a little, "I mean I see her point to an extent, I don't think he needs to be out there all the time, he should get some rest and live his life too, but apparently she limited his patrols to two hours a day so he can come home and they can have dinner together and have a 'normal life' or something like that."

"But that's the thing. He _can't_ have a normal life," he said, frustrated. "None of us can. It's not who we are. And her making him --and him allowing her to do it-- it's going to backfire at some point in the worst possible way."

"I agree," Chloe sighed, "but Clark was raised with his dad telling him to look and act as normal as possible so no one would find out about him and at the same time, with his dad telling him just how different he is, which meant he couldn't do a lot of things most kids couldn't do, so he thinks this is what his dad would want."

Oliver sighed softly, raking a hand through his hair. "It's just frustrating, you know? He can do so much in seconds, without even having to think about it or work for it."

Chloe smiled a little and nodded, taking a deep breath, "I know. It's a lot faster for him."

Nodding, he led her into his office and shut the door behind them. "Make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you," she told him, making her way over to the couch rather than the chairs and taking a seat. She saw no need to put a table between them.

He moved over to sit down beside her on the couch. "What'd you find?" he asked, leaning in.

"The facility where he made Gabriel," Chloe told Oliver, looking up at him, "Vic sent me everything he decoded and I managed to find a location."

He blinked and looked at her with surprise. "Wow."

Chloe blinked a couple of times and cocked her head a little, "what?" She said, arching her eyebrows, surprised by _his_ surprise.

"You just never fail to amaze me." He grinned at her.

"Oh," she looked down and smiled softly, her cheeks getting warm, "it wasn't that hard once I had everything Vic found."

"This is why we all make a great team." He smiled. "So where's this facility?"

"About an hour North of Metropolis," she told him, "I don't know if there is anything there anymore or not, but I used your satellite and the building is definitely still there."

Oliver drew in a breath. "Well, it definitely garners checking into."

"That's what I thought," she agreed, smirking, "but I didn't wanna go on my own."

"I'd say that's a good call." He raised his eyebrows a little.

"When do you think you'll be able to go?" She asked, arching her eyebrows.

"What are you doing in an hour?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Breaking into Lex's facility?" She smirked, sitting up and watching him.

Oliver smirked, as well. "Great minds." He tapped his temple lightly.

She nodded a little, feeling a little adrenaline rushing through her already, "okay, do you need to finish something up here? I can go downstairs and wait for you at the coffee shop if you do so I don't get in your way."

"No. God no. If I have to look at one more spreadsheet today I'm jumping out the window."

She grinned softly and nodded "and unless you have a zipline attached to you when you do that, you definitely shouldn't."

He smiled. "Well, at least someone would miss me," he joked, winking at her and heading to his desk. He started shutting down his computer.

Chloe stood up too and took a deep breath, "a lot more than me, I'm sure."

"You'd be surprised." He shut off his screen and turned to face her. "You wanna drive?"

"Yeah, I can," she shrugged a little, "my car is parked outside."

"I meant mine." Oliver grinned.

"Oh," her eyes widened a little, "you want me to drive your car?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

Her eyes were bright suddenly but she tried not to let him notice her excitement. "You trust me with it?"

"Chloe, I trust you with my life," he said honestly, handing her his car keys.

Her heart skipped a beat and she reached for the keys then nodded a little, "goes both ways."

He held her gaze. "Good to know," he said softly, a soft smile touching his mouth.

She smiled softly and took a deep breath then nodded slightly, "should we get going?"

"Yeah, let's get this done." He grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and followed her toward the door.

* * *

It took them about forty minutes to drive to the facility in Oliver's car, since he was encouraging Chloe to test it's limits and since it was a road more deserted than the one to Smallville, it was pretty safe to drive in, besides, Chloe had really enjoyed it. It was nice that he trusted her as much as he seemed to.

She slowed down as they made their way down a side, narrow road and held her breath when she saw the outline of a building just a mile or so ahead, "that should be it," she told him. It was dark out but the full moon was bright in the sky, so they could easily see their surroundings for miles ahead.

"Looks pretty abandoned from here," he commented. Which was good considering they hadn't called for backup on this one.

"He never usually stays in one place for long but there might be something inside," she told him, turning off the headlights and slowing down even more as they made their way to the facility not to make too much noise.

"Yeah, something they left behind on accident." It wouldn't be the first time it happened.

"Exactly," she told him, pulling the car to a full stop a moment later then nodding a little, "okay, lets see if we're in luck."

Oliver nodded a little, climbing out of the car wordlessly and looking over at her before heading toward the building's back entrance.

She took a deep breath and held on to the flashlight she had brought but kept it off since it was too bright out still, pausing when they stopped by the door and nodding at him.

He listened at the door for a moment, then pulled it open, pausing and then stepping inside when there was no sound.

Chloe wasn't surprised to find everything dark inside as she followed him in, the building had no windows so the moonlight didn't help anymore. She turned on her flashlight and illuminated the way ahead of them, "dust," she whispered, pointing the light to the floor where he had just stepped and the clear footprint he had left.

Oliver looked down. "Looks like it's been abandoned for awhile," he commented softly, glancing around where she shone the light.

"He's been at the Planet for months, maybe he's been alive for longer than I thought."

"What was your estimate?" he asked, glancing at her in the darkness.

"Eight or nine months," she told him, looking up at him and catching up so they were walking side by side.

"You're probably right." He paused in his tracks, reaching out and catching her arm gently in his grasp.

She looked up at him and held her breath, watching him questioningly.

"Look at that." He nodded toward an empty tank, what looked like it had once been a very large aquarium.

She held her breath and looked at it, her eyes widening a little, "let's take a closer look," she told him, starting toward it.

Nodding, he followed her silently, his heart beating a little more quickly in his chest. "Looks like what we've found at some of his other facilities," he murmured. Except they'd had _people_ in them. And water.

She nodded, she hadn't seen them herself but she had heard about them from the boys. With her flashlight, she looked at the bottom of it and nodded at the name 'Gemini' at the bottom of the tank, "looks like this is it."

Oliver nodded, too, noticing the tag and chewing the inside of his cheek. "Looks like."

"If they still have equipment here, maybe they left other things behind too," she whispered, instantly turning to look around the rest of the darkened facility.

"Exactly what I was thinking," he told her, raising his eyebrows.

She nodded, pausing as they reached a T and looking at him for a second before turning right, going farther away from the door.

He followed her without hesitation, not only because he wanted to make sure she was safe, but also because she had the only flashlight and he really had zero desire to smack into a wall face-first.

Chloe was walking down the hallway and she couldn't see any windows or doors, but when she suddenly felt a breeze she stilled. "Did you feel that?" She whispered, looking around both sides of the narrow corridor.

"No?" His eyebrows furrowed and he glanced around, too. "What?"

"Wind," she said, turning to face him and pointing the flashlight up, "there are no windows or doors..."

"I didn't feel anything," he said, shaking his head and taking a step closer to her.

She held onto his wrist and pulled him forward, "it was right here," she said, taking a step back and pulling him with her. She felt it again and then, a second later she felt the floor cracking under her. She stared up at him, her eyes wide.

His eyes widened, as well, and he quickly reached out, grabbing her and pulling her against him right as the floor cracked.

And gave out from under them.


	7. Chapter 7

Chloe screamed loudly and held on to him, closing her eyes as they fell for just a second then hit the floor, _hard_.

"Ow," she gasped as her knees buckled and she fell forward and on top of him, something she was grateful for since she could only imagine just how much that would have hurt.

He groaned, shutting his eyes as he felt pain shoot through him at the impact. His arms wound around her instinctively. "You all right?" He coughed a few times.

"Yeah," she whispered, shifting a little on top of him and looking around then back at him, "are you okay?"

"If my ass isn't broken, I'll be fine." He laid his head down on the ground.

She took a deep breath and paused then shifted on top of him, wincing as she moved to stand up quicker than she should have when she realized she was on top of him. "Sorry."

"Easy." His arms tightened around her a little. "Just need a minute to catch my breath."

Chloe stopped trying to move when his arms tightened around her and nodded a little, "oh, okay," she said quietly.

"The flashlight still working?" he asked quietly.

"I dropped it..." she told him, lifting her head a little more, "I don't see it anywhere so it's off," and the place was completely dark, she could barely see him at all.

"All right." He kept his arms around her and sat up slowly, letting out a breath.

She held her breath and held on to him as she moved to stand on her knees, "where do you think we are?" She whispered.

"I'm not sure," he murmured, reaching out with one hand and feeling around on the floor for the flashlight, hoping it was somewhere close by.

She leaned forward a little and started feeling the floor around them, "must have rolled somewhere."

"Be careful. We don't know what's down here," he murmured. His hand closed around something solid and tube-like. "I think I found it."

"Did you?" She asked, holding her breath and looking in the direction of his voice.

He flicked the button and a faint beam of line emitted. He grinned. "Affirmative, Watchtower."

Chloe let out her breath and sighed in relief, then gasped, her eyes widening again as she looked behind him, horror clear on her face, "Oliver..."

He frowned at the expression on her face and turned to look, his eyes widening as well. Because now they were in a room full of tubular shaped aquariums.

And in each one was a body.

* * *

Chloe felt absolutely sick. The room was tiny, there was door, but when they opened it, the outside of it had been cemented shut, the rest of the room was tiny, most of it was filled with the tubes, there were no files, but considering the labels on the tubes were Gemini 89, 90, 91 and so on, they didn't need files to tell them those were failed attempts at cloning.

"We have to get back up," she told him, trying her hardest not to look at the bodies, who all looked like her editor, some more deformed than others, "if you can get up, I have a rope in my--" she stopped and sighed, "--in my car, which is still parked outside your building."

Oliver raised his eyebrows at that. "And I have my crossbow in my trunk." He grinned at her, moving closer to her. "So really all we need to do is get you out of here."

Her eyes widened a little, "how are we gonna do that?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Well, I figured I'd start by...picking you up," he said, glancing up toward the hole in the ceiling above them.

She held her breath and nodded a little, biting down on her bottom lip, "think you can lift me that high?"

"Yeah, I don't think that'll be a problem. You've still got the car keys, right?" He turned to look at her.

"Yeah," she told him, feeling inside the leather jacket's pocket, "it's in here." She said quietly before stepping forward toward him.

"Good." He stepped closer to her, reaching out and resting his hands on her hips. "You ready for this?"

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, lifting her hands to his shoulders, "yeah."

Oliver nodded, as well, offering her a quick smile before picking her up easily and lifting her toward the ceiling.

She raised her eyebrows, surprised at how easily he lifted her, she stretched her arms up but it wasn't high enough, "can you go higher?" She asked, "I might need to stand on your shoulders to reach it." She usually didn't mind her height, but right now, it wasn't helping.

"Yeah, give me a second." He shifted a little, his hands shifting so they were holding onto her knees now instead of her hips, her ass right in his face. He swallowed hard.

She shifted carefully, placing a foot over his shoulder and holding her breath as she pressed a hand on the wall for balance, "okay," she breathed as she reached up and held on to broken wood, "I got it, but I don't know if it will break again."

"If you fall, I'll catch you." His voice was quiet, but filled with promise.

"Okay," she whispered, pulling herself up some more, her feet dangling, "push me," she whispered.

Nodding, he lifted her as high as he could, hanging onto her knees securely so she wouldn't fall. "How's this?"

Chloe nodded and climbed the rest of the way then pulling herself up on the other floor and nodding, "okay, got it," she called, pulling her legs up on the floor too.

"I'm gonna toss the flashlight up. Try and catch it, okay?" He picked the small tubular light off the floor.

"No, I can find my way out," she told him, "keep it, just hold it up so I don't miss the hole and fall back down in it. I'll be right back."

He hesitated. "Be careful." He shone the line up toward the hole.

She nodded and walked slowly at first, a hand on the wall to guide herself then she rushed the rest of the way up until the door.

Moments later, she made her way back in, crossbow in hand, she could see the light still coming from inside the hole, "okay," she called, getting down on her knees and crawling carefully the rest of the way, "I got it," she called.

"Great!" He grinned, relaxing a little once he heard her voice again. He stuck the flashlight under his arm. "Toss it down."

She turned the bottom of it toward him and nodded, dipping it down before, "here it goes," she called before letting go of the crossbow.

Oliver caught it, grinning. "Thanks, Watchtower. Make sure you're back out of the way."

Chloe nodded and did, moving back down about three feet, "okay, come up."

He felt the grappling line hook securely onto the floor above and he gave it an experimental tug to make sure. When he was, he held on tightly as it propelled him upwards and he rolled with the crossbow, moving away from hole. "Well, that was an adventure."

She let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding when he landed inches from her, "I think we pushed our luck enough for the night, we should get out of here."

"Agreed," he said, rising to his feet and blowing out a breath as he looked back down toward the hole they'd fallen in.

"I do think we should come back, though, soon." She told him as they started back toward the exit, "before this is all removed. If that's still under there, there might be more to it."

"If nothing else it proves that there are genetic experiments going on in the state," he agreed, following her closely. "Even if it just makes it a little harder for him to do what he's doing."

Chloe nodded a little then arched her eyebrows, "maybe we should call the cops, I will write an article on it as soon as we get back and we can use the pictures we took," they weren't great quality due to the very little lighting, but the phone Oliver had given her was amazing so she knew they'd be good enough to print. "Not for the Planet, of course, but I can find someone willing to publish it."

"What about the Star City Register? I'm pretty sure they'd be happy to take it." He followed her out the door and toward his car.

"That's out of state," she told him, glancing at him, "but I guess if we can't find anyone in Kansas willing to publish it, it should become national news soon enough, right?"

"I'd say overnight," he said, nodding a little.

"I agree," she nodded, taking a deep breath, "okay, I'll work on it as soon as I get home."

"Great." He flashed her a quick smile and headed for the passenger side.

She unlocked the car once more and got into the driver's side, "at least it wasn't a wasted trip."

"Far from it." He slid into the passenger seat, glancing over at her. "Hey, you're hurt." There was worry in his voice and he reached out without thinking about it, touching her face.

"I am?" She frowned, looking up at him.

"You're bleeding," he murmured, gently wiping his thumb across a small cut on her forehead.

"Oh," she reached for the rear view mirror and turned it toward herself, glancing at it, "it doesn't hurt."

"Good." He tucked some hair behind her ear before letting his hand fall away from her face, his chest tightening a little.

She looked at him again and held her breath, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her quickly.

Chloe watched him for a moment longer then took a deep breath and started the car, turning it around and making their way back to the road.

* * *

The call had come in just after one a.m.

He'd made the two hour drive from Metropolis to Smallville in just over an hour, his heart beating quickly in his chest even as dread made his stomach tight. He knocked on the door, shutting his eyes for a moment and wishing he wasn't about to do what he was about to do.

Chloe was still awake, working on the article like she promised Oliver. She rolled her eyes at the knock, she had told Jimmy she would be busy and that he should stay at his place but of course he hadn't listened. She got up and sighed, reaching for the door, "Jimmy," she said, "I told you I had to-- Oliver?"

The regret on his face was obvious, and he made no effort to hide it. "Chloe."

Her eyes widened and her stomach tightened at the look on his face, "what's wrong?"

He looked down at the floor, then back up at her, reaching out and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I got a call a little while ago. We need to go to Star City. It's your mom."

She stilled, staring up at him, her chest also tight now, "what happened?"

"They can't get her to wake up," he said softly. "They think it's her heart."

Chloe suddenly felt like she had been punched in the stomach, her eyes teared up but she pursed her lips together and nodded a little, turning away from him and walking back to the table she'd been using as a desk, throwing her phone, keys and everything in her purse quickly then looking around to see if she should bring anything else.

"My pilot will be ready by the time we get to the airport," he said quietly, his chest tight.

She nodded slightly then closed her laptop and grabbed it, not looking at Oliver as she made her way back to the door, "okay, let's go."

Oliver locked the door behind him and stepped outside of the apartment, pulling it shut behind them.

Chloe didn't say anything else until they were back inside his car, "are you coming too?" She asked, glancing over at him.

He blinked at the question, a little caught off guard by it. He'd planned to go and hadn't even thought twice about it. She might not want him there. "Only if you want me to." His voice was soft as he started the car.

She nodded a little and pursed her lips together, "I wouldn't know where to go."

"Then I'll come with you," he said quietly.

"Thank you," she said quietly, taking a deep breath and looking back ahead, trying not to think about what this could mean.

* * *

They arrived in Star City almost six hours later. Chloe had been quiet the entire time, but even though she'd had the laptop open in front of her and she had been working on the article the entire time they were on the plane, she had no idea what she had written.

She also hadn't paid any attention to the drive from the airport to the facility where her mom was, or to the sunrise by the ocean. She just wanted to see her mom before... if... at least one more time.

Her stomach was in knots and her chest was tight as she climbed out of the car once Oliver had parked in the building's garage and turned to look at him, waiting for directions.

He rested his hand at the small of her back, guiding her toward the connecting hospital hallway and scanning his ID card through the security checkpoint. The door unlocked and he led her inside and down the hall toward an elevator.

Her heart was beating faster against her chest as she stepped into the elevator and glanced up at him, "they didn't say anything else, right?"

He shook his head, pressing the button for the 12th floor and glancing back at her. "No, nothing else."

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked up at the changing numbers on the elevator display.

Oliver drew in a deep breath and led her off the elevator a moment later, heading toward her mother's room. He was stopped by a nurse outside the door and he felt his heart sink. "What's going on?"

"They are doing everything they can, Mr. Queen." She told him, glancing at the young woman then back at him.

Chloe's stomach turned and she lowered her head, taking a deep breath before looking at the nurse, "I want to see her."

"This is Moira's daughter, Chloe Sullivan. We want to see her," he said quietly, his voice firm.

The nurse looked between the two of them for a moment then nodded slightly and reached to open the door behind her, stepping aside for them.

She stared at the woman for a moment, her eyes tearing up even more as she stepped into the room, three men were standing around the bed and she could hear machines going off, but she couldn't see her face yet.

Oliver held his breath as he followed her inside, wincing as the doctors tried to bring her back.

Chloe made her way around one of the doctors, she had the feeling they were talking to her, but she wasn't paying attention. Her eyes fell on her mother's lifeless face and she held her breath, making her way to the bed and cupping her cheek, tears streaming down her face, "mom?" She whispered.

"We've done everything we can," one of them said quietly, to Oliver.

His gaze was focused on Chloe. "Then do something _else_ ," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Queen," the man told him just as quietly, glancing at the woman's daughter too.

Oliver nodded once, not looking at him as he slowly moved to Chloe's side, his chest tight just from the devastated expression on her face.

Chloe leaned down slowly and pressed her lips to her mom's forehead, "I'm sorry," she whispered, sobbing quietly.

He swallowed hard, his eyes feeling warm. He reached out silently and rested his hand on her back. Her mom was gone, and there was nothing he could do to help or make it any better.

She didn't move, but when she felt his hand on her back, she started crying harder but still as silently as possible. She had never told her dad that she had found her, she still remembered how heartbroken he'd been when she left and she didn't want to hurt him more, it wasn't like he could talk to Moira and have her explain everything to him. She felt like it was better that way.

And now she knew for sure it had been, her dad didn't need to know, didn't ever need to see her like this. In the background, she heard the doctors talking, she could tell she was really gone, but she didn't want to leave her side. She should have come by, should have come to see her more often, even if she wasn't awake, she should have come to keep her company, she knew she would have known she was there.

But Chloe had been selfish, she hadn't come by at all, because it hurt to see her mom and not have her answer or ask questions, it hurt to see that version of the woman she had known.

And now it was too late.


	8. Chapter 8

Between signing all the necessary paperwork and waiting for the coroner to arrive, it was nearly four hours later when he managed to get them back to the penthouse. Chloe hadn't said a word the entire time, and the look on her face made his stomach tighten painfully. He would have given anything to have gotten her there just an hour sooner. To give her that time with her mother. God, why hadn't he just called Clark and had the man run her to Star City when he'd gotten the call? It was a decision he'd regret not making for the rest of his life. But now wasn't the time to dwell on his feelings. On his regret. He led Chloe into the penthouse and shut the door behind them quietly, locking it.

Chloe stepped inside quietly. She was tired, she felt numb, but the last thing she wanted was to lay down somewhere or try to sleep. She didn't want to be on her own and Oliver's presence was oddly comforting.

She felt like she should call someone, let them know what had happened, but there really wasn't anyone to tell. Lois and Jimmy knew nothing about her finding her mom, the only people who knew were Oliver, Clark and Lex.

He took his jacket off and hung it up silently before moving to stand beside her. Wordlessly he reached out and curled his fingers around hers, giving them a gentle squeeze. "You want something to drink?"

She blinked a couple of times then looked up at him, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly then nodded a little, "water?"

"Of course," he said with a nod, moving away from her slowly and heading into the kitchen area. He fixed her a glass of ice water and set it down on the table by the sofa. "You want to sit down?"

Chloe watched him for a moment then nodded slightly and made her way to where he was before pausing, "oh, I forgot my things in the car."

"I'll get them," he said softly, rising to his feet.

"It doesn't have to be now," she said quietly, looking up at him.

He met her gaze and nodded a little, motioning to the cushioned seat beside him.

She nodded slightly then picked up the glass of water, sitting down carefully before sipping on her water.

Oliver shifted closer to her, turning so his body was half-facing her on the sofa. "Chloe, do you want me to call anyone? Jimmy? Clark?"

Chloe shook her head a little and took a deep breath, looking down at the glass, "Jimmy doesn't know," she admitted in a whisper, "and Clark is busy."

His chest tightened at that and he shifted closer. "I'm not," he whispered, hesitantly wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

Her face crumbled and her eyes teared up once more, she thought she had cried everything she could, but apparently she was wrong, "thank you for coming with me," she said quietly, leaning a little closer.

He nodded slightly, pressing his lips to her temple without thinking about it. "You're welcome," he murmured, gently rubbing her arm.

She closed her eyes and sighed softly as she leaned her head against his arm, wanting to curl up against him but stopping herself, she was too tired to move anyway. "It's so stupid," she whispered after a long moment of silence.

"What is?" he asked, his head leaning lightly against hers.

"She hasn't really been a part of my life since I was five," Chloe whispered, "it shouldn't feel like this."

Oliver paused at that. "What does it feel like?"

She took a deep breath and shrugged a little, looking down. "Like I just lost her again."

"Regardless of whether she's been a part of your life since you were a kid, she's your mother," he murmured. "You're entitled to feel however you feel, Chloe."

Nodding slightly, she rubbed her hand over her face, "it's not her fault."

"No," he agreed softly. "And it's not yours either."

She looked down and sipped on her water. Technically, it was her fault that her mother hadn't been able to stay with them, not in the way Chloe had assumed for years. It wasn't because she didn't love her. But if she had never been affected by her mother's ability, she would have stayed, even if not at home, she would still have been around.

"Look at me," he whispered, shifting so he was facing her completely now, concern in his eyes.

Chloe sighed deeply and sipped on the water once more before reluctantly looking up at him.

He reached out and took the glass from her, setting it down. "I blamed myself for years after my parents died, Chloe," he said softly. "Sometimes things just happen that we can't control. And I have a feeling that your mom would never want you to blame yourself for anything that happened to her." He shook his head a little.

"She left because of me, Oliver," she told him quietly, looking away again, "because of how her powers affected me, and then she somehow forced herself into a coma because of it." Her voice was just above a whisper but there was a hint or anger in it.

"She's your mother. She was doing what she had to in order to protect you. And if you'd been in her shoes, you would've done the same thing."

Chloe's chest tightened at that and she sighed softly, she knew that much was true, considering she had been so scared when she first found out she was infected. "I just wish she would have stayed, would have tried to control it instead."

He nodded slightly, lifting his hand to her cheek. "I know," he whispered.

She leaned into his touch and sighed softly, closing her eyes, "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Chloe. Come here," he murmured, sliding his other arm around her.

Chloe hesitated for just a second before shifting closer and wrapping her arm around him, holding on to him as she turned her face to his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry about your mom," he whispered, resting his head against hers as he rubbed her back.

"Thank you," she whispered, tightening her hold on him, "and for being here."

He simply nodded, holding her close to him. It was all he could do.

* * *

He was awakened hours later by the sound of his telephone ringing. His eyebrows furrowed as he idly wondered why his neck hurt. And then he realized it was because he was lying down on a couch. Next to a warm body. Cautiously he opened his eyes, his chest tightening as he realized the warm body belonged to Chloe, and he remembered _why_ she'd fallen asleep on him in the first place. He sighed softly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his telephone. He grimaced when he saw Dinah's name flash across the screen and he quickly pressed the 'ignore' button. He'd call her back later.

Chloe shifted a little and opened her eyes at the unfamiliar ringtone, she lifted her head then sat up almost instantly when she saw Oliver there, not Jimmy. She looked around in confusion for a moment then back at him.

"Easy," he whispered, tightening his arm around her just a little to keep her from falling off the couch.

She shifted a little again and took a deep breath, "you can answer it," she whispered.

"I'll call back later," he said quietly.

Chloe nodded slightly and looked at him for a moment. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you," literally, "sorry."

"It's not a problem," he assured her, watching her closely.

She shifted again, then slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, pulling away from him, "where is the bathroom?"

"Down the hall. Second door to the left." He sat up slowly, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Thank you," she told him again, getting up and making her way down the hall without another word.

He watched her go, then rose to his feet slowly, pulling his phone out once more and dialing Dinah's number. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

She answered on the second ring, "where are you?"

"There was an emergency in Star City," he told her, heading out onto the balcony and pulling the door shut behind him.

"What emergency? Why didn't you call me?" She asked.

"There wasn't time," he told her honestly, rubbing his hand over his face tiredly and looking out over the city. "Chloe's mother died last night."

Dinah was silent for a long moment, "Chloe's mother was in Star City?"

"Yes. Under the care of physicians here."

"Why are you there?"

Oliver paused. "Because they're my physicians and Chloe needed a friend."

"And you couldn't have invited me to come along?" Dinah asked.

"You were out patrolling. There wasn't time to wait," he said quietly.

"Her fiance should be there with her, Oliver, not you."

"Jimmy doesn't know her mother was here, Dinah. She was meteor-infected. It's one of those things that he doesn't know about."

"Fine." She said finally, "call me when you're headed back."

"I will," he said quietly.

"Bye," she told him before hanging up.

"Bye," Oliver echoed, pulling the phone away from his ear and raising his eyebrows a little. He was surprised she hadn't yelled at him. It wasn't like Dinah to remain that calm over something like this.

Chloe made her way out of the bathroom and when she found Oliver out in the balcony, on the phone, she reached inside her pocket and picked up her own, making her way over to the couch and curling up on it, not surprised to find no messages, texts or missed calls.

He stepped back inside a moment later, letting out a breath and setting his phone down. "You hungry?"

She shook her head a little and slid her phone back in her pocket, "I need to figure out what I need to do."

Oliver was silent for a few seconds. "If you want, I can take care of it," he said sincerely.

Chloe held her breath and shook her head again, "no, I want to do it." He had done enough already and she hadn't done nearly enough for her mother.

"All right," he agreed softly. "But if there's anything I can do to help, I'm here."

"Thank you." She stood up and took a deep breath, pulling her phone back from inside her pocket then cocked her head slightly, "I'm not sure where to start."

"Well..." He moved over and picked up the phonebook, opening it to the yellow pages. "Generally the first step is calling a funeral home." His voice was quiet. "There are a lot in town. They can help offer you options about a service."

Her chest tightened but she took a deep breath and nodded a little, looking down at the phonebook, thanks to him, she didn't have to worry about being able to afford it and although she had no doubt he'd offer to pay for it, she didn't plan on letting him.

He reached out and rested a hand on her back. "You're not alone here," he said softly.

Chloe's eyes teared up slightly and she nodded, taking a deep breath, her eyes tearing up, "I know," she whispered, "but I want to do this for her."

"Oh, I know, Chloe," he whispered. "I just meant...you know, for moral support. I'm here."

She held her breath and turned to face him, her eyes teary again, "you're an amazing friend, Oliver."

Oliver shifted closer and wrapped his arms around her wordlessly.

Chloe paused for a second then wrapped her arms around him too, closing her eyes tightly.

* * *

They didn't leave Star City until the following night. There hadn't been a big funeral since Chloe and Oliver had been the only ones there, but it had been beautiful. She knew it was just the symbolism, but she wanted to make it special, even though it didn't make up for her not coming to see her, she planned on changing that. She had promised herself and her mom that she would make the effort to come visit her as often as possible.

She leaned against the airplane window and sighed deeply, looking down as the plane moved away from the ocean and further toward the land, on it's way back to Kansas.

"You want something to drink?" Oliver popped open a bottle of whiskey and raised his eyebrows a little, holding up two glasses in his free hand.

Chloe lifted her head a little and turned to look at him, surprised when she saw the bottle in his head. She considered for a moment then nodded slightly.

"Thought you could use one," he admitted quietly, pouring each of them a glass and rising to his feet. He moved over to where she was sitting, and sat down beside her, holding one of the glasses out.

"Thank you," she whispered, taking the glass from him and sipping on it, swallowing hard as the liquid burned its way down her throat.

"You're welcome," he said with a nod, downing his own drink and pouring another.

Chloe looked at him for a moment and took a deep breath, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Oliver assured her, topping off her glass and setting the bottle down. He was silent for a moment, thinking, and he rested his head against the seat.

She kept her eyes on him for a long moment then looked down at her glass, taking a long sip of it and finishing the glass.

"I miss pancakes." His voice was soft, almost inaudible.

She blinked a couple of times, "pancakes?"

A faint, sad smile touched his mouth. "When I was little...every Sunday. My mom would make pancakes for breakfast. The rest of the time, it was whatever our cook made, but on Sundays...my mom liked to cook, herself."

"Oh," her chest tightened and she nodded slightly, "do you still remember what they tasted like?"

"Yeah." He let out a breath, looking down at his glass. "They were strawberry pancakes."

"My mom made waffles," she whispered, looking down, "with strawberries and whipped cream, sometimes blueberries."

Oliver turned his head to look at her, holding his breath for a moment. "I think our moms would've liked each other."

Her eyes teared up and she glanced over at him, nodding a little but not saying anything, she was pretty sure she would just start crying again if she did.

He reached out and gave her hand a squeeze before finishing off his drink silently.

She looked down at their hands and sniffed quietly, "have you ever tried making it?" She asked, squeezing his hand back then letting go and refilling her glass before doing the same to his.

"Pancakes?" he questioned. He shook his head a little. "No, I haven't."

Chloe took a drink then shrugged a little, "maybe you should, until you get it right."

"Maybe," he murmured, taking a drink, as well. He glanced at her. "Have you ever made waffles?"

"Just eggos," she admitted, taking a deep breath and looking down, "the morning after she left, I walked into the kitchen and my dad tried to make them. He was trying to hide it, but I could tell he was crying. He nearly set the house on fire."

He winced at that. "It's harder than it sounds."

Chloe nodded slightly and took a deep breath, "yeah, neither of us tried making it since." She admitted then took another long sip of her drink.

Oliver considered for a moment, then shifted in his seat. "We'll do it. Some Sunday. We'll get together and make pancakes and waffles and have breakfast together."

Her chest felt painfully tight at his words and she held her breath, staring at her glass for a moment longer before turning to look at him.

He met her gaze, holding his breath, as well. "Deal?" he whispered, holding his hand out.

She hesitated for a second then shifted her glass to her other hand and nodded slightly, taking his hand in hers and shaking it slightly, "deal," she murmured, her voice cracking as she searched his eyes.

Oliver hesitated for the briefest second, then leaned in, brushing a light, tender kiss against the corner of her mouth.

Her grip on his hand tightened and she turned her head slightly, kissing the corner of his mouth too, her heart was suddenly beating faster and a shiver ran down her spine.

He wanted nothing more at that moment to turn his head and kiss her properly. But he couldn't do that. Not to Chloe. Not when she was vulnerable _and_ engaged to another man to boot. He leaned his forehead against hers and then finished off his drink.

Chloe took a deep breath and turned her head down, she had no idea what had just almost happened, but she could still feel her skin tingling where his lips had touched it. She finished off her drink too and pulled away slightly to lean against the seat.

All she really cared was that he was there with her and she knew she couldn't have asked for better company.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a couple of weeks since they made their way back from Star City. Chloe had expected things to go back to normal, but apparently they had a new normal and she definitely wasn't complaining. Oliver had been checking on her all the time, at least once a day but usually a lot more than that and they had been hanging out a lot.

She knew he'd been wanting to make sure she was okay and she was moving on, and she found herself not really minding it. It was nice to know he was there for her if she needed him considering when she told Jimmy that her mom had passed away (even though she didn't give him any details and he didn't even know she'd been gone for most of two days), he had just hugged her and said something along the lines that at least she and her mom weren't close.

While Chloe knew that some people just didn't deal with those kinds of situations too well, she had been hoping for a little more support from the guy she was going to marry, but she just shrugged it off and since he didn't bring it up anymore, she didn't either.

But she did talk about it every now and then with Oliver and that had been helping, she'd been seeing him a lot more often and he had just called about half an hour ago to see if she wanted to go to lunch with him, so she made her way out of the Planet and to a small French bistro not far from it, where they'd agreed to meet.

She wasn't surprised to find him standing outside and she smiled the instant she saw him, "hey," she greeted as she walked up to where he was standing.

He smiled instantly when he saw her. "Hey. Glad you could escape Grant's wrath for lunch."

"I'm as glad as you are," she told him, arching her eyebrows, "thanks for suggesting it."

"Not a problem." He gave her a quick hug before offering her his arm.

She hugged him back then took his arm, looking up at him, "how bored were you at work?"

Oliver grimaced, rolling his eyes skyward. "How could you tell I was bored?" He smirked and glanced down at her with raised eyebrows.

"The part about if you looked at one more spreadsheet your eyes would pop out of their sockets was a good hint," she smirked back at him.

He grinned. "I was incredibly bored and contemplating that if my eyes actually _did_ pop out of their sockets, at least I'd never have to look at another spreadsheet."

"Yeah, but that would suck for everything else," she pointed out, arching her eyebrows.

"Like not being able to see my friends." He nodded a little. "That _would_ suck."

"Exactly," she agreed, hugging his arm a little, "I mean I'd help you with the holes on the pavement stuff but you'd still miss out on a lot."

"Like that smile of yours," he commented, glancing down at her, his eyes bright. "I'd definitely miss that."

Chloe smiled a little more then looked away as they approached the door to the restaurant, "I guess you could count that, but there is a lot more. Like the amazing view you have in your Star City apartment."

He gazed at her a moment longer. If he'd had to pick between which of the two he'd never see again, he'd give up the Star City view in a heartbeat. At that realization, his chest tightened a little. "The view here is nice, too."

She glanced up at him and held her breath when she saw the way he was looking at her. Little things like this kept happening more and more often the more they spent time together and while she knew she should pull away, Oliver had grown to be the person she enjoyed being around the most and she really didn't want to lose that.

Besides, they were both in committed relationships and Chloe knew nothing would come of this, whatever it was. "Come on," she said quietly, tugging on his arm, "I'm starving."

"Can't have that." He grinned at her and let her lead him inside the restaurant. "Smells good. I've never been here before."

"They have really good sandwiches," she told him, "they make the bread fresh and I heard the salads are good too, but I've never tried them."

"What kind of sandwich do you recommend?" he asked, sitting down across from her at one of the tables.

"I like the brie and ham one," she told him, "but they have all kinds, also, they have amazing coffee." She teased.

He smirked at her, shaking his head. "Which you are most welcome to have all of."

"I thought so," she grinned, picking up the menu and opening it.

He shook his head and opened his own menu, scanning it. It had been over two weeks since Chloe's article on cloning had gone national, and while Grant was still giving her a hard time, Lex had virtually dropped off the map. There had been no sign of him since his flight had departed from Metropolis the day after the article was printed. At least one good thing had come out of it. Except that just meant he was off somewhere planning his next move, and would turn up at the most inconvenient time possible. But for now, he was going to take the reprieve and enjoy it. He glanced up at Chloe once more, chewing the inside of his cheek.

Chloe cocked her head slightly at the look on his face and smiled a little as she closed the menu again, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just thinking," he said honestly, smiling back at her softly.

She held his gaze for a moment, searching his eyes and nodding slightly, "I haven't heard anything from him," she knew he was worried about Lex and honestly, so was she.

"I have a feeling it'll be awhile. Which makes me wonder if he realized he left behind evidence of some kind. Something that would tie him to everything he's been doing. I mean, why else would he take off?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "but if there was something, it's gone now..." the place had been blown to pieces hours before the article was published.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, nodding. "Which means he thinks we have something on him."

"Which is not good news," she told him, arching her eyebrows a little.

"We'll have to be on guard," he agreed, trying to ignore the nagging, growing worry he had as it grew closer to the time he'd be returning to Star City. He hated the idea of Chloe being here in Kansas with basically no one watching her back since Clark was playing house with Lana.

"Always a smart idea," she pointed out then took a deep breath, "when are you planning on leaving?" She asked quietly, the thought of not seeing him all the time bothered her more than it should, but she knew he had his life with Dinah in Star City, that was his home, not Metropolis.

He shook his head. "Haven't set a date yet," he told her quietly, looking down at the table.

Chloe nodded slightly and looked away too, picking up her water and sipping on it. "We'll figure it out."

"You know, Chloe..." He shifted in his seat and looked up at her once more. "You could always move to Star City. I'm sure you could hire on at the Register pretty quickly."

She blinked and looked up at him, surprised by the suggestion. While it made some sense, she was afraid that, if she was around him like this for an extended period of time, whatever she felt for him already was only going to grow stronger and that alone was reason enough to not even consider the idea. "The Planet may not be what it used to be, but it is the place I've always wanted to work at, besides, Jimmy has his job too..." she told him quietly.

"Oh. Right." For a brief moment, he'd actually completely forgotten about Jimmy. And that was dangerous. He sighed very softly and looked at her across the table.

Chloe's chest tightened a little as she held his gaze, "but I do plan on visiting often," she told him, "I want to go see her every few months at least."

"You can visit anytime," he said immediately, reaching across the table and covering her hand with his. "You have my private jet at your disposal, and you'll always have a place to stay while you're there."

She held her breath and turned her hand in his, holding on to his fingers, "thank you," she told him quietly, "I don't think me staying with you is a good idea, though."

"Because of Dinah?" He raised his eyebrows. "She's actually calmed down a lot. She knew you stayed with me while we were in Star City and she didn't seem upset about it. And trust me, if she was, I would've heard about it." A _lot_ , he added silently.

Chloe frowned a little at that, "are you sure?" She asked, surprised, her hand still wrapped around his, "and I guess that was a different situation..."

Oliver nodded. "Completely sure." He gave her hand a squeeze.

She took a deep breath and nodded slightly, "we'll see how it works out," she told him, smiling softly, "thank you for offering."

He smiled back. "You're welcome."

* * *

After lunch, Chloe was feeling a lot more unsettled than she had while she was with Oliver. She really enjoyed his company and the thought of him not being around anymore in the near future was really starting to bother her more than it should. But she had to stop thinking about that.

With a deep breath, she made her way to her desk and just as she was sitting back down, she saw a familiar blonde looking around. Chloe stood up again and approached her, "Kara?" She called, frowning slightly.

Kara Kent turned her gaze to Chloe and smiled a little, although it was hesitant. "Chloe, hi."

"Hey," Chloe tried for a smile too, "everything okay? What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," she said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "I was actually coming by to say hi to Jimmy. Is he here?"

Chloe blinked a couple of times, "you know Jimmy?" She asked, sincerely surprised by the information.

"Yeah, we've run into each other a few times here and there. He was helping me find some things on the computer," she told Chloe.

"Oh," she nodded a little, Jimmy certainly hadn't mentioned anything about that, "I'm not sure he's here, I just got back from lunch."

"I was actually going to see if he wanted to go to lunch with me," Kara admitted, glancing around again.

Her eyes narrowed a little at that but Chloe didn't say anything, "I don't know if he's eaten yet or not." She wanted to ask if Kara knew the two of them were engaged, but she didn't, not like she hadn't just gone to lunch with Oliver. But at least Jimmy knew she'd been spending time with him, she hadn't heard anything at all about him spending time with Clark's Barbie-like cousin.

"Oh. Well, I guess I'll just wait at his desk and ask when he gets here." She smiled. "Good seeing you, Chloe." She headed away without another word and moved over, perching on the edge of Jimmy's desk.

Chloe arched her eyebrows and watched Kara for a moment, cocking her head a little as she watched the woman before making her way back to her chair and sitting down. She wanted to see how Jimmy acted around her.

It was less than ten minutes later when Jimmy walked into the newsroom, spotting Kara almost instantly. His eyes immediately lit up and he grinned at her brightly as he headed toward his desk.

When Chloe saw her fiance walking into the room, she sat up and watched him closely. She was more than a little surprised when he wrapped his arms around Kara and hugged her, pretty much picking her up off the floor when he did. Jimmy wasn't a touchy-feely person. At least not with her.

And Kara seemed to be used to this behavior because she returned the hug and started talking animatedly immediately and once more to Chloe's surprise, Jimmy seemed to actually be interested in what the other blonde had to say.

She watched the two of them for just a moment longer then turned to look back at her computer, taking a deep breath and chewing on her bottom lip. She had never thought her relationship with Jimmy was perfect, but it looked like it was worse than she imagined.

* * *

Oliver got back from patrol earlier than Dinah, which frankly, was the norm. Along with Dinah's sonic scream, she seemed to have more energy than he did, and he was pretty energetic for someone without any abilities.

He wasn't expecting to see Chloe sitting on his sofa when he stepped inside the clock tower. "Hey. What's going on?"

"Hey," she greeted and took a deep breath as she stood up. She felt bad for just showing up like this, but she needed to talk to him. "I'm sorry for the breaking and entering but I tried calling, I guess you weren't answering because you were on patrol, which I should have figured. I did when I got here though, I figured I'd wait since you normally finish up before Dinah, but we can go somewhere else to talk, I don't want to get you into trouble with her, I just need to figure something out before I go home," she babbled.

His eyebrows furrowed the more she talked and he pushed his hood back and off, and pulled off his night vision glasses. "Give me a couple minutes to change, and you've got my full attention," he promised, heading toward his secret room, a worried expression on his face.

Chloe nodded slightly and took another deep breath, chewing on the inside of her lip as she looked around. She had tried to talk herself out of coming by to bother him but she knew she wouldn't have the opportunity to come by and talk to him for much longer and she really didn't know what to do.

He returned a moment later, tugging a shirt on over his head. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing urgent," she assured him, "but are you sure we should stay here?"

"Yeah, Dinah's gonna be out for awhile still. At least an hour or two." Plus, he had a feeling she'd be meeting her new friend for drinks after patrol.

"Okay," she relaxed a little and pursed her lips together, trying to figure out how to start, "I'm thinking of calling off the engagement," she admitted.

Of all the things he thought she might have come by to talk about, that wasn't on the list. His eyes widened a little and he stared at her for a moment before moving to sit down on the couch. "What happened?"

"Nothing, I don't think?" She sighed softly and walked over to the couch, sitting down too, "Kara came by to see him at the Planet today."

"Clark's cousin?" His eyebrows furrowed a little.

"Yeah," Chloe looked over at him, "apparently they have been hanging out a lot and he looked really happy to see her."

"How do they even know each other?" Oliver shook his head, looking confused.

"I have no idea, she said they ran into each other a few times, but the thing is, I should have gotten mad when I saw them hugging and smiling at each other, I should have been jealous but... I wasn't."

He paused, considering that as he studied her for a moment. "And how do you feel when you think about calling off the engagement?"

"Nervous, mostly, I don't know how he will take it or even how to talk to him about it," she told him, pausing for a moment, "and a little upset."

"Just a little?" he asked gently, watching her.

"I don't know," Chloe sighed softly, "there's a feeling of loss but I spend more time with you than I do with him and... I prefer it that way. He seems to be happier around Kara than he is when he's with me too... it shouldn't be like that."

Oliver held his breath at her words. And he enjoyed spending time with her more than he did with Dinah. "No, I suppose it shouldn't," he murmured.

She rubbed her hands over her face and shook her head a little, "and then there are all the secrets and the fact that he could be in danger if Lex comes after me. I don't know, Oliver. I don't know how I didn't see any of this before."

"I guess sometimes it takes awhile to see something that's right in front of you." His voice was quiet.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded slightly, glancing over at him, "I'm sorry to just dump this on you, especially when it has nothing to do with you but... I don't want to overreact." 

"No, I'm glad you came," he said honestly, watching her. And now he needed a drink. Because now he knew what _he_ wanted and it scared the hell out of him.

She nodded slightly and smiled a little, "I just didn't want to go home and talk to him before figuring it out, but... I don't think there is much to figure out."

"It sounds like you already know what you're going to do," he said softly.

Chloe pursed her lips together and nodded again, looking down then at him again, "you don't think it's a bad decision?"

"No, I don't." And not just because it meant he might have a chance with her after he spoke to Dinah. "You deserve to be with someone who is going to love you with everything they are," Oliver said honestly. "And from what you've told me, I don't think that...Jimmy's that guy."

Her chest tightened and she looked over at him then away and took a deep breath, "and I guess I can't do that for him either."

"No?" He gazed at her intently, his heart beating a little faster in his chest.

"If I did, this would be a lot more painful than it is, right?" She asked, glancing over at him. She'd had her heart broken before, this didn't feel anywhere near that.

"I suppose it would be," he said, nodding. _Which was why it was so easy to break off the engagement with Dinah_ , he realized. He just didn't _love_ her like that.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, "thank you," she said quietly, "for listening."

Oliver gazed at her. "Anytime," he said just as quietly.

"I should get home," she said after a moment and sat up a little. 

"Are you going to talk to Jimmy tonight?" he asked, holding his breath for a moment.

"Yeah..." she said quietly, "he said he'd come by tonight, so... I rather just get it over with." 

Oliver nodded. "Well, if you want to talk after, feel free to call me."

"Thank you," she said sincerely, taking a deep breath and standing up once more. It wasn't like her to talk things like this over with someone else, but she had wanted to talk to Oliver about it, both because his opinion mattered to her but also because he was always so incredibly supportive. "I'll be okay, but I'll call you tomorrow."

"All right. I'll talk to you then." He rose to his feet, as well, opening his arms to her.

Her face softened and she stepped closer, wrapping her arms tightly around him and hugging him close.

Oliver smiled faintly, resting his chin atop her head as they hugged. She fit into his arms perfectly, and it wasn't the first time he'd noticed it.


	10. Chapter 10

Chloe was _not_ looking forward to get into work this morning. She had even gone by the coffee shop next door after she parked and had had her muffin and her first large coffee there, then she bought a second large cup and slowly made her way back to the Planet.

To say things hadn't gone well with Jimmy was an understatement. He had called her all the horrible things he could come up with and had accused her of everything he could imagine. In fact, she hadn't been able to say much more than that she wanted to break up, had barely been able to explain things to him at all before he started ranting and then stormed off.

She had managed to shrug off all the hateful things he had said because she knew she had caught him by surprise and he was obviously hurting. She just hoped he would have called in sick today so things wouldn't be awkward at work.

But when she saw the word 'cheater' written in big bold letters on a paper that had been taped to her computer screen, she knew she'd been wrong in hoping that.

Her jaw clenched and she walked over to it, pulling the paper out and trashing it, ignoring the looks she knew she was getting.

Jimmy looked over at her from where he sat at his desk, glaring at her silently.

Chloe took a deep breath when she noticed him looking at her and considered her options for a moment before setting her coffee and purse down and making her way over to him, "I didn't _cheat_ on you, Jimmy, and you are being completely immature about this."

"I'm trying to work," he informed her loudly. "Could you please stop _bothering_ me?"

At that moment, Grant Gabriel walked by, pausing at the sight. "Is something wrong?"

Her jaw clenched once more but she took a deep breath, "no, nothing." She said, not looking at her editor.

"I'm trying to do my job, but Chloe insists on trying to force me to _socialize_ with her," Jimmy said, looking up at Grant.

Chloe could have told him Jimmy was harassing her but she stopped herself, "Jimmy, you're being ridiculous."

"I see." Grant studied her. "Well, I can't have that on company time, Chloe. I'm sorry to say this, but I'm going to have to let you go."

She stilled and looked from Jimmy to Grant, "what?" She blinked in shock, "you're _firing_ me because of what he said? Without _any_ evidence at all?"

"Considering that the entire newsroom is currently gawking at you, I'm assuming there are plenty of witnesses. You've got ten minutes to gather your things and exit the building," he said firmly, glancing at the clock. "And I'm keeping track."

Chloe looked over at Jimmy who quickly looked away from her, her jaw was so tight, it was hurting. Her eyes teared up slightly but she took a deep breath and made her way back to her desk, grabbing one of the filing boxes she kept under it and filling it with her stuff as quickly as possible. In the back of her mind, she knew Grant had been looking for an excuse to get rid of her since the article came out, but that didn't help at all right now. Her hands were shaking and she wanted nothing more than to scream at both of them.

But she managed to keep her mouth shut and by the time her ten minutes were up, not only was she already out of there, but she had already gotten in her car and driven over to Oliver's. She hadn't even realized where she was going until she was already there and in the elevator, on her way up.

She took deep, calming breaths and rubbed her shaky hands over her face.

As soon as the elevator pulled to a stop, she pulled the gate open and stepped inside, "Olive--" the word died on her lips as soon as she lifted her head, her eyes widening as she realized that Dinah was on the couch, completely naked.

Chloe blinked and looked away in horror, "oh God, I am so sorry," she started to apologize and then stopped realizing that the person currently on the couch _with_ Dinah looked absolutely _nothing_ like Oliver.

"Ever hear of calling first?" Dinah snapped, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and covering her companion quickly.

She took a deep breath and turned to look at Dinah again, and then at the red-headed woman she was with, "sure," her jaw clenched as she started at them now that they were both covered, "I'll be sure to call Oliver before I make my way to his office to let him know about this."

The red-headed woman's eyes were wide and she looked at Dinah silently.

Dinah glared at Chloe, lifting her chin. "You think he'll come crying to _you_?" She smirked. "Good luck with that, Chloe. I'm surprised you even managed to land a guy like Jimmy."

"I don't care about that, Dinah," she said tightly, "all I care about is my best friend not being involved with a two faced bitch like you." She turned to the other woman, "I'd be careful if I were you."

"Get _out_ ," Dinah ordered. "And watch your back."

"I am getting out," Chloe told her, shifting her keys in her hand, "but you better do the same before he gets back, because I _will_ be telling him and you better not hurt him anymore than you already are." She warned before turning and walking back into the elevator.

* * *

Oliver sat at his desk in Queen Industries, rubbing his forehead as he stared at the figures on the spreadsheet. God, he hated this part of his job. All he'd been doing at the Metropolis office was going over numbers and more numbers, and he was getting a serious headache. He didn't look up when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he called, jotting down his newest figure and sighing a little, reaching for his glass of tea.

Chloe stepped inside and took a deep breath, if her hands had been shaking with anger now, they were two times worse now, "Oliver?" She called as she closed the door behind herself.

He glanced up at the sound of her voice, frowning immediately at the rattled expression she wore. "Chloe? What is it?" He rose to his feet.

She took a deep, shaky breath, not sure where to start, "you might want to sit down," she said quietly, motioning to the couch.

Growing even more worried now, he slowly moved over to the sofa. "Are you all right?"

She looked at him for a moment, "I have something to tell you."

He sat down, looking up at her. "All right. I'm listening."

"I-- was going over to the Clocktower to see you, I didn't even consider you'd be at work," she said quietly, not bothering with the reason why for now, "and Dinah was there." She took a deep breath and looked down at him as she stood directly in front of him then winced a little, "with someone else."

He raised his eyebrows a little. "Yeah, she said her friend Barbara was coming over this afternoon." There was a hint of confusion in his voice.

"No, Oliver," she said quietly, swallowing hard, "they were both naked when I walked in."

For a moment he just stared at her, then his eyes widened a little. "Oh."

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip and nodded a little, taking a deep breath and a step closer, "I'm so sorry, Ollie."

Oliver shook his head. "That...actually explains a lot," he said slowly. Like why Dinah hadn't been upset when she'd found out that he and Chloe had been alone in his penthouse in Star City. Or why she didn't protest whenever he mentioned meeting Chloe for lunch or dinner.

Once she was sure he wasn't going to start yelling or storm out to try and find Dinah, she slowly moved to sit down next to him, keeping her eyes on his face, "it does?"

"Yeah. She kept talking about this woman every time I saw her. I didn't really think anything about it." He leaned back against the couch. "I mean, I probably never would have guessed she was _sleeping_ with her, but...."

She nodded a little and hesitated for a moment, "I told her to get out of your apartment, I... didn't want you to have to deal with it. She obviously doesn't deserve you."

Oliver was quiet for a few seconds and then he turned his head to look at her. "I was going to break up with her," he said quietly.

Her eyes widened a little and she stared at him in confusion, "you were?"

He nodded a little, chewing the inside of his cheek. "Last night when you were talking about your relationship with Jimmy, you were basically describing my relationship with Dinah," he admitted with a shrug. "Guess this just made it easier for me."

Her face fell and she nodded slightly, her chest tightening, "I'm still sorry it happened this way."

He smiled a little at that, nodding. "How did it go with Jimmy last night?"

She paused at that and took another deep breath, "he didn't take it well," she said tightly.

His smile faded instantly and he shifted closer to her. "What happened?"

"Well," she shifted a little, looking away, "he yelled and then he stormed off, then this morning he left a note on my desk and when I went to tell him he was being ridiculous, Grant showed up and fired me."

Oliver's eyes widened. " _What?_ "

"I just grabbed my things and left and when I went to see you..." she waved a hand and looked over at him.

He rose to his feet, his jaw tight as he nodded. "All right."

Chloe blinked and looked up at him, frowning, "what?"

"Let's go fix this." He moved over to get his car keys off his desk.

"Fix what?" She asked, standing up too and looking up at him.

"Well, I thought I'd start by punching Jimmy's face in," he said seriously, turning to look at her once more. "And then by having a nice chat with Lex's cloned brother."

" _No_ ," she said firmly, stepping in front of him, "I broke up with him, he's angry and hurting, even if he is being an asshole about it, and I'll find a job somewhere else. Without Dinah and without Jimmy, I can help the team more until then." She had no idea where that last part had come from, but as soon as she said it, she realized it made sense. 

He pursed his lips, staring at her for a moment. "Yeah?"

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, searching his eyes, "I don't have to lie to anyone anymore."

Oliver paused, nodding slowly. "You're not tied down to Metropolis anymore, either." His words were almost hopeful and he raised his eyebrows.

Chloe paused too and cocked her head, "I guess I'm not..."

"Not that you have to make that decision right now." He chewed the inside of his cheek.

She took a deep breath and nodded a little then looked away for a moment before looking back at him, "I don't think I want to be here right now."

Oliver took a step toward her. "Let's get out of here then," he said without hesitation.

Chloe blinked a couple of times, her eyes brighter than before, "really?"

"I'm sick of looking at spreadsheets and running figures. You don't want to be here. Nothing is tying either of us down here." He raised his eyebrows. "Let's go somewhere. Somewhere _fun_."

Her heart started beating faster and she pursed her lips together, nodding slowly, she knew it was a spur of the moment decision, but unless she was working on a story or on a mission, she never made those and after everything they had both just found out and been put through, and with Lex being a constant threat, maybe doing something crazy was the best way to go. Something unexpected, maybe it would keep them safe.

With a deep breath, she nodded a little and smiled, "okay. Where?"

A grin formed on his face. " _Vegas_."


	11. Chapter 11

Oliver's eyes were bright as he watched Chloe's expression shift from overwhelmed to excited as they climbed out of the limo and onto the Vegas strip. He wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her to his side, grinning. "We're going to have a blast."

"We both deserve it," she told him, grinning back up at him and wrapping an arm around him too. "I think we need to go upstairs, change and get started as soon as possible."

"Agreed." He led her toward the entrance of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.

She looked around the hotel, taking everything in. They had packed up and left in less than three hours, it was just five in the afternoon there, which gave them plenty of time. "This place is amazing..." she said quietly.

"Wait til you see the room." He grinned again. He'd called ahead and reserved the Celebrity Spa Suite, which was a huge suite that had two bedrooms and a kitchen and a large bathroom.

"I'm sure it's ridiculously over the top," she teased, looking up at him. She didn't feel like she had just lost her job and broken up her engagement at all, she was excited, looking forward to all of this. She felt _free_.

He gave her his best innocent look. "I have _no_ idea what you're insinuating, Sidekick."

"Sure you don't," Chloe lowered her voice, " _Arrow_." She grinned, "a billionaire being eccentric? Unheard of."

He chuckled, leading her through the hotel and to the elevators. He knew she'd never been to Vegas before because they'd talked about it on the jet ride there. He could hardly wait to show it to her, and the fact that she seemed so enthusiastic about it made his own excitement kick into high gear.

Chloe looked around all the way up to their floor and down the hall where Oliver led her. Pausing when he did by a double door, "is this it?"

He smiled and nodded, sliding the electronic key through the reader and opening the door.

She pulled her arm from around him and stepped in, her eyes widening as she looked around the _huge_ room and its decoration, she hadn't even found beds yet, just a living area, "wow."

Oliver grinned at her reaction, following her inside and closing the door behind them. "It's something," he agreed, nodding.

"It's at least four times the size of my apartment," she told him, glancing at him over her shoulder before noticing a door toward the side and making her way toward it.

It was about half the size of his apartment at the clock tower, but he wasn't going to say that out loud. He moved over toward the balcony doors, unlocking them and opening them, drawing in a deep breath. He loved the view here.

"Wow," Chloe said again as she walked into one of the bedrooms, her suitcase was already there waiting for her. It was huge and beautiful, the bed was huge and she didn't think twice before kicking off her shoes and throwing herself on it, grinning to herself. She was determined to have a good time, both of them had been dealing with a lot lately and she wanted to make sure Oliver had a good time too.

He appeared at the door a moment later, laughing at the sight of her sprawled out on the bed. "I take it the bed's comfortable."

"Very comfortable," she grinned, propping herself up on her elbows, "you should try it."

Smirking, he moved over and flopped down on the bed beside her, stretching out. "This _is_ nice."

She grinned brightly at him and looked up, "look at the ceiling."

Oliver looked up, his eyes widening at the sight of the large mirror above them. "Well. That's interesting."

"Very kinky," she smirked, laying back down and looking over at him through the mirror, "but I guess it is Vegas."

He looked at her in the mirror, as well, raising his eyebrows. "Speaking of." He grinned. "You know how they say New York is the city that never sleeps?"

"Yes?" She arched her eyebrows, smirking slowly.

"Welcome to Sin City." He smirked back at her knowingly.

"Well, if we're going with cliches..." she turned her head to look at him, "I do believe what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas right?"

Oliver grinned. "That it does." He sat up and then rose to his feet, holding his hand out to her silently.

She took his hand and crawled over to his side of the bed before getting off it, "where do we begin?"

"Well, first we change clothes into something less..." He looked down at his suit. "This." He grinned. "Meet you in the living room in ten?"

"I'll be ready," she grinned, arching her eyebrows.

He winked at her as he headed out the door.

* * *

Just about ten minutes and three different dresses later, Chloe made her way out of her room and into the common area. She had picked a pinkish purple dress she had never worn before but her cousin had made her buy it because she said she looked hot in it. It was a halter top that went down to her knees and while it wasn't super dressy, she had dressed it up a little with long earrings and silver shoes, which she also had never had the opportunity to wear.

Oliver met her in the room wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and a pair of jeans, his eyes widening when he caught sight of her. "Wow," he whispered.

"Oh," she paused when she realized he was wearing jeans, "is this too much?"

"Definitely _not_. You look fantastic," he said honestly, his gaze lingering on her.

Chloe smiled a little and looked away then back at him, "so do you, black is a good color on you."

He smiled back at her, then moved toward her, holding his arm out. "What do you say we hit the town?"

She took his arm and grinned up at him, "I say that's a great idea."

Nodding, the two of them headed out of the hotel room and down to the lobby of the building. "What do you want to do first? Shopping? A show? Casino?" He grinned.

"I don't know, what do you suggest?" She asked, arching her eyebrows, "you're the expert."

"Well, you've never been here before, so it really all depends on what you feel like doing." He winked at her.

"We have time for all of it, right?" They hadn't really decided how long they were going to be in town for after all, "as long as it involves alcohol, which I think we both could benefit from, I don't care what we do."

He grinned brightly. "We have time for _all_ of it," he assured her with a nod. "And alcohol sounds like a good starting place to me. Let's grab some drinks at the casino. How are you at Black Jack?"

"Sounds good and I've learned a few tricks here and there from my cousin," she smirked, keeping her arm on his as they walked out to the hallway.

"Somehow, Chloe, I don't think you've ever needed lessons from Lois on much of anything," he informed her with a smirk of his own, heading toward the casino.

"Well, the whole illegal gambling was more of her specialty than mine," she told him, her chest tightening a little at what he had said, not many people would think she didn't have a lot to learn from her cousin.

"Well, you're not illegal anymore." He winked, leading her inside the casino and looking around. People sat at slot machines, eagerly dropping quarters into them like they were pennies, and others gathered around various tables. He lifted his hand in a wave as a waiter headed in their direction. "So what's your poison?"

"That whiskey you introduced me to was really good," she said, arching her eyebrows as she glanced at him then looked around.

"Whiskey it is." He placed their order with the waiter, then nodded toward the nearest Black Jack table. "Let's see your skills, Gorgeous."

Chloe grinned softly at him and leaned against the table, "so we're playing _against_ each other?"

He chuckled. "Definitely not. This is Vegas. Plus I know better than to place any bets against _you_." He winked at her, tossing some money onto the table. "I'm going to watch."

She cocked her head, looking up at him, "you're just _watching_?"

"For _now_ ," he assured her. "Call it curiosity."

Chloe eyed him for a moment then nodded slightly, turning toward the table, "I'll take this one, but I'll be watching you next."

"Promises, promises," he teased, grinning.

She grinned back at him then took a deep breath, "deal me in," she told the man, who had been eying Oliver since they approached the table.

Oliver grinned, leaning against the table and watching her intently as she played.

A few moments later, Chloe collected her chips and looked up at him, smirking, "how's that to start the night?"

"Very impressive, though I expected nothing less," he informed her, smirking back. "And I could use another drink. What about you?" He raised his eyebrows.

She grinned softly and nodded, "I think that sounds like a good idea, but then it's your turn, Mr. Queen."

"You're on, Tower." His eyes twinkled with amusement.

* * *

Hours later, they made their way to one of the more exclusive restaurants in the hotel. Chloe had no idea what time it was since it seemed like the influx of people never changed in that place. The restaurant and particularly, their booth in the very back of it, however was quiet, dark and very intimate.

"Okay, one more fry," Chloe said, leaning back against her seat. "That's it." 

"You've nearly eaten them all," he accused, looking down at his plate and then over at her, shaking his head.

"They are _amazing_ fries," she told him, grinning and reaching for a fry from his plate before taking a bite of it. She had no idea how many drinks they had had at this point, but she was surprised she could still form sentences.

Even Oliver was feeling more than a little shaken by the amount of alcohol he'd consumed and he was practically a professional drinker. "I wouldn't know," he pouted, reaching across the table and stealing one of her chicken strips off her plate.

"Oh please, I only had like, two of them, and you stole all the olives from my martini," she pointed out, arching her eyebrows and looking up at him.

"I _had_ to," he insisted, taking a bite of the chicken and chewing and swallowing before he continued. "They practically spell out my name."

Chloe laughed at that and leaned back against her seat, "how does that even make sense?"

He grinned and shrugged, taking another bite of the chicken strip. "Olives. Oliver. One letter difference!"

"S as in Sullivan so I had rights to at least _half_ those olives," she pointed out, reaching for her martini and sipping on it.

He made a face at that. "One letter doesn't constitute _half_ ," he argued, picking up his beer and taking a drink.

"I don't know, I think it does. It's a powerful letter." She pointed out, crossing a leg over the seat and looking up at him.

He cocked his head to the side, considering that. "Maybe a _fourth_ ," he conceded.

"So I would get what, one bite of one of the olives?" Chloe asked, cocking her head to the side.

He leaned forward on the table. "You like them that well?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Not as much as fries," she grinned then leaned forward too, "but I do like olive _s_."

Oliver smirked at her and motioned to their waitress. "We'd like more fries and some more olive _s_ please." She gave him an odd look but jotted down the order and headed away.

Chloe giggled and shook her head, sipping on her drink again, "what are we doing after?"

He grinned when she giggled and he finished off his beer. "I"d say let's catch a show but I don't really want to sit around," he told her.

"No, me neither, we should go out," she motioned toward the doors, "explore the rest of the strip."

Oliver nodded, looking toward the doors. "We should. There's so much to do in Vegas."

"I wanna go on that roller coaster," she told him, arching her eyebrows, "the one on top of the casino, which one is it?"

"The Stratosphere Hotel," he supplied with a grin. "I had no idea you were a rollercoaster person. It's actually not there anymore."

"Oh," she considered for a moment then shrugged, "I guess we can find other ways to entertain ourselves."

He leaned in a little more. "Yes, we could."

Her eyes brightened and she grinned, "what do you suggest?"

"Let's get married," he said, grinning back at her.

Chloe laughed and shook her head, "sure, let's go see Elvis." She grinned.

His eyes lit up at her easy agreement. "Awesome."

She grinned and shook her head a little once more, picking up her drink and sipping on it, "I can't believe just yesterday we were engaged to those _losers_ ," she wasn't normally one to say bad things about other people, she had grown out of that, but she felt like they had the right to be mad at Jimmy and Dinah.

"Won't they be shocked when we show back up married...to each other." He smirked, reaching across the table and picking up her drink, sipping it as amusement danced in his eyes.

Chloe paused and looked up at him, "you're serious?"

Oliver met her eyes, pausing for a moment, then nodding. "Yeah. I don't want to spend my life with Dinah. I never really did. But you?" He grinned. "I can actually picture it."

She grinned softly and shook her head, "I can promise you I don't find girls attractive," she teased.

"I find _you_ attractive," he said honestly, still smiling at her. " _Very_ attractive."

Chloe paused and looked at him, her cheeks were already warm from all the alcohol, but she could feel them getting hotter, "I find you attractive too, much more than Jimmy," she said then her eyes widened and she covered her mouth.

Oliver grinned at that. "I love spending time with you. Even if we're not talking it's still nice."

"Me too," she told him quietly, holding his gaze and smiling, then picking up her glass and finishing her drink.

When she put the glass down, he reached across the table and covered one of her hands with his. "I wanted to kiss you," he whispered, raising his eyebrows.

She held her breath and looked over at him with wide eyes, her heart beating fast, "you should." She whispered back at him.

He nodded in agreement, leaning across the table and brushing his lips lightly over hers.

Chloe sat up so she could shift closer and kissed him lightly back at first then lifted her hand to his cheek and kissed him a little more firmly.

Instantly he felt a spark and he shifted, too, leaning into her touch as he felt his heart starting to beat faster.

She pulled back a moment later and took a deep breath, she'd been feeling lightheaded for a while now, but she was much more out of it after kissing him.

Oliver licked his lips, staring at her with wide eyes that were darker than usual. "I'll give you anything you ever want," he whispered. "What do you say, Sidekick? Wanna marry me?"


	12. Chapter 12

The second Chloe started to wake up, she wished she hadn't, her body was sore and her stomach was trying to crawl out of her body and leave her. She groaned and turned on the bed then stilled and turned to lay back again. Moving was apparently a really bad idea.

He felt movement beside him on the mattress and he groaned softly, as well, much too tired and hungover to attempt lifting his head off the pillow it was resting on.

When she heard someone groan, Chloe paused and very slowly turned her head toward the source of the noise, the room was bright with sunlight which blinded her for just a second before she realized who else was on the bed, "Oliver?" She whispered and groaned, her voice making her head hurt more.

He opened one eye, his stomach tightening a little. "Chloe?" Sure enough he found himself staring at her.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again, "did we get run over by something last night?"

He shut his eyes. "A Johnny Walker truck, I think," he mumbled.

Chloe groaned quietly and took a deep breath, not moving for a long moment before sitting up then stilling as she looked down at herself, "what the hell am I wearing?"

Oliver couldn't help but open his eyes at _that_ question, and he slowly lifted his head up, blinking rapidly to clear his vision. He raised his eyebrows a little. "I don't know, but the dress looks familiar," he told her, grimacing as he glanced down and found himself wearing a light green suit jacket. Where the hell had he gotten _that_?

She turned to look at him too and frowned, making a face at the light green suit, "wait... I remember you trying that on, I think."

"You do?" He frowned, too, and sat up slowly, groaning as his head threatened to explode.

"Vaguely," she whispered, closing her eyes again, "it's fuzzy..."

"Maybe we should try not moving until the world stops spinning," he mumbled.

"Yeah," she whispered and slowly laid back down, lifting a hand to rub at her face, "at least we have our clothes on..."

Oliver paused at that, glancing over at her, his gaze locking on the ring on her ring finger. On her _left_ ring finger. His eyes widened a little.

Chloe glanced over at him and noticed his eyes were wide and he was staring at her, "Oliver?" She frowned.

"Yeah?" He drew in a breath and let it out slowly before turning his head slowly to meet her eyes.

"What's wrong?" She asked quietly, looking up at him.

"Nothing's _wrong_ , but uh..." He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment.

" _What_?" She asked, sitting up again despite her stomach turning and her head pounding.

"I think that we're wearing these clothes for a reason." He raised his eyebrows a little.

"Why?" She pushed and reached to pick a... feather? From her dress and then she stilled when she realized she had a huge diamond on her finger, memories rushing back to her almost instantly as her stomach dropped. "We got married."

"Looks like," he agreed, watching her for a moment, his heart beating quickly in his chest.

Her eyes widened and she stared back at him, swallowing hard.

Oliver looked down at his own left hand and then held it up wordlessly, showing her the white gold band he was wearing.

She took his hand in hers and looked down at his ring, then lifted her hand, and her second ring definitely matched his, holding her breath she looked back at him once more, "what are we going to do?"

He looked down at her hand, his heart skipping a little at the sight of their matching bands. Then he looked up at her once more. "Honeymoon in the Bahamas?"

* * *

**The previous night...**

"Come on," Chloe grinned, tugging on his hand as they walked into a store, "we have to find something else to wear!"

"Anything you want," he assured her, grinning as he glanced around the place and raised his eyebrows. "Fancy stuff."

She arched her eyebrows and picked up a golden mask, holding it over her eyes, "I should get myself an uniform too..."

"I'm thinking something leather. And green." He smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Chloe dropped the mask back on the shelf and grinned up at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him quickly, "you're already the green one though..."

He brushed his nose against hers. "But then everyone could call us Team Green," he said with a grin.

She laughed and looked up at him, "wouldn't the rest of the team feel left out?" She asked quietly, lowering her head a little and looking up at him under her lashes. 

Oliver shrugged a little and kissed the corner of her mouth. "I meant the you and me team." He raised his eyebrows a little. "I think we make a good team."

Her face softened and she ran her fingers over his hair, "we do," she grinned mischievously a moment later, "but we will already be team Queen!" 

His eyes lit up, and he nodded solemnly. "And you'll be my Queen."

She laughed and tightened her arms around his neck, picking up her feet off the ground, "you're so mushy."

He laughed, too, spinning her around in a circle. "It's because I sort of adore you," he confessed in a loud whisper.

Chloe kissed his cheek then pulled back, her eyes bright as she looked down at him, her expression serious, "you're my best friend now, did you know?"

His smile brightened. "Yeah?"

She nodded slowly and looked down at him, leaning her forehead against his, "told Dinah that too, that she couldn't hurt my best friend anymore."

Oliver's arms tightened around her just a little. "I still want to punch stupid Jimmy's face in."

Chloe made a face and shook her head, pulling back a little to look at him again, "he doesn't stand a chance against you anyway," she grinned a little, "it doesn't matter and I'm glad I'm not marrying him. Ever."

"I'm glad you're not either. I didn't like him," he admitted. "But you're marrying me instead." He grinned again.

"And then we don't have to lie to anyone," she told him, her face brightening, "well, to everyone _else_ , but not to anyone that matters."

He dipped his head, kissing her again and then reluctantly setting her on her feet. His eyes went wide. "We have to find something to wear!"

Chloe giggled and reached for his hand again, pulling him further into the store, walking right up to one of the girls who worked there, "I need a wedding dress," she announced brightly then pointed over her shoulder to Oliver, "and he needs a suit."

The girl's eyes widened a little as she looked between the two of them. "Are you sure this is where you want to shop for that?" There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Yes," Chloe said brightly, glancing up at Oliver then motioning around, "look at all the colors!"

"Well, I'm sure we have something." She smiled a bit and looked around. "Oh, here." She came around the counter and motioned Chloe toward a stand across the store. "Follow me for dresses."

Oliver grinned, leaning against the counter. "I'll just look around and see if I can find something too."

Chloe waved at Oliver and followed the girl down a corridor, "I don't want anything long because I don't wanna trip on it."

"I'm sure we can find something you'll like," the girl assured her, leading her to the rack.

A few moments later, Chloe had tried on five dresses already but she hadn't liked any of them until this one. The girl had barely zipped her in and she gasped and pushed the curtain out of the way, "Ollie!" She called.

He'd just finished trying on a green suit jacket across the room when he heard her. "Chloe!" he called back, grinning.

"Come see!" She called him, starting toward him, "I'm Madonna!"

"No!" He said immediately, turning around. "I'm not supposed to see!"

Her face fell and she paused, pouting as she dropped her arms, "what? Why not?"

"It's bad luck or something." He frowned, really wanting to turn around. "But I'm sure you look beautiful!"

She sighed deeply and looked down at her dress, cocking her head a little as she looked over at him again, her eyes lingering over his ass, "am I allowed to see you, though? Because I already am."

"Yeah, just...I'm not supposed to see you in your wedding dress before we walk down the aisle." He paused. "Are you checking out my ass?"

Chloe paused and arched her eyebrows then grinned slowly, " _maaay_ be?"

He grinned, too. "Okay. Just checking."

She grinned and ran over to him, "close your eyes," she warned just as she stepped in front of him and kissed him, grabbing his ass at the same time and squeezing it.

He chuckled as he kissed her back. "Hey now, let's save _something_ for the wedding night," he teased, sliding his arms around her even as he kept his eyes shut.

"Guess we better hurry then," she grinned, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him again then looking down and laughing, "you found a _green_ suit," her powers of observation were far from the sharpest right now and she really could care less.

"I thought it was appropriate." He hugged her closer to him, kissing the top of her head.

"It's _hot_ ," she grinned then pulled away from him and moved to stand behind him, "okay, go pay, I'll keep walking behind you so you can't see me."

He grinned, too. "All right." He smacked her butt lightly then turned and headed over to the counter, smirking as he pulled out his wallet.

Chloe grinned and stood directly behind him as promised, holding on to his jacket.

"Do you have your something new, something borrowed and something blue yet?" The girl who had been helping them asked, amused.

"No!" Chloe said, looking up toward Ollie as she cocked her head.

He scratched his head after handing his Visa over to the girl. "Why don't the dress and the suit count for something new?" he asked, frowning.

"But there is no blue..." Chloe told him.

The girl picked up a blue garter and held it out to Oliver, "you can buy this for yourself and let her borrow it for the night," she suggested, smirking.

Oliver licked his lips and nodded. "Add it to the card." He held it behind his back for her to take.

Chloe took it and grinned brightly, "thank you," she told the girl leaning heavily against Oliver's back for support as she lifted her leg to pull it up her thigh.

"You're putting it on _now_?" His eyes widened comically and it took every ounce of willpower not to turn around.

"Wasn't I supposed to?" She asked, cocking her head to look up at him.

"You do have to get married with it," the girl added, holding out the card back to Oliver.

"What about something borrowed?" He frowned, looking worried once more and looking at the girl.

"That's what she just said," Chloe told him, "the garter is yours, I'm just borrowing it from you." 

"Oh." He relaxed, grinning. "Okay. Guess we're good to go then."

"Lets _go_!" She told him, tugging on his jacket to pull him toward the door before grinning at the girl, "thank you!"

"You're welcome," she grinned, "congratulations."

Oliver waved over his shoulder at her. "Thanks!"

Chloe kept her hands wrapped around his jacket as they walked back out onto the strip, "what else?" She asked, looking up at him then around the street.

"Rings!" he blurted out. "We need rings!"

"Oh," her eyes widened and she nodded a little then paused, "I don't want Dinah's."

He made a face at that. "Definitely not."

"Or a plastic one," Chloe told him, her head spinning a little as she cocked it more, a pout appearing on her lips, "and I think I should horseback ride on you because my feet are hurting."

"Only idiots give the girl they love plastic rings," he informed her, kneeling down a little so she could climb on his back. "I'm giving you a _real_ ring."

She climbed on his back and grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him, "I don't care what ring it is then as long as it's not either one of those."

"It'll be pretty," he promised, wrapping his arms around her knees to help her stay balanced as he crossed the street toward an all night jewelry store.

"You're so amazing," Chloe told him quietly, laying her head against her arm, over his shoulder.

He smiled at that. "I love you," he informed her.

Her eyes widened a little as she lifted her head once more, losing balance slightly so her weight dropped against his back once more, "you _do_?"

"I do," he said with a nod. "I think you're incredible." He opened the door to the jewelry store and carried her inside.

Her eyes teared up a little and she took a deep breath, "I love you too," she told him, "and I wanted to kiss you a lot of times before tonight."

"Me too," he admitted. "Like on the plane a few weeks ago."

Her arms tightened around his neck and she nodded a little as her face fell and she laid her head back down. "But I don't wanna talk about that."

"Me either." He leaned his head against hers.

Chloe turned her head and kissed his jaw gently then sighed softly, looking over at the jewelry store.

"Let's get you some bling," he said with a grin.


	13. Chapter 13

"All right, try this." Oliver carried a steaming hot cup of mocha coffee over to where Chloe was sitting on the sofa in the common area. It was a few hours later and while he was feeling quite a bit better, Chloe still had a pretty bad headache, which he was hoping coffee would help out with.

"Thank you," she said quietly, taking the mug and taking a deep breath, inhaling the smell of the coffee before sipping on it carefully.

"Welcome," he said just as quietly, sitting down beside her on the sofa.

Chloe took another sip of the coffee, cupping the mug in both hands before setting it over her lap, "how are you feeling?"

"Better," he admitted. "Still have a little headache, but other than that..." He shrugged a little, resting his hand on her back lightly.

"I know you don't like coffee, but the caffeine might help you too." She told him quietly, holding out her mug to him.

He considered that for a moment, then took the mug from her, taking a small sip. "How are _you_ feeling?"

"My stomach is better," after she'd actually gotten sick almost an hour ago, she had never been sick from drinking too much before, but apparently they really went all out the previous night. "But my head is still trying to kill me."

He winced a little, handing her mug back to her. "Sorry," he whispered.

Chloe took the mug and sipped on it once more, "so after we got our outfits from a costume shop of all places," she said quietly, arching her eyebrows just a little because her head would hurt too much otherwise, "what do you think happened?"

"Apparently we went ring shopping." He looked down at his hand and then over at hers.

She looked down at her hand too and nodded, her stomach tightening, "at least we have good taste while drunk."

A smile tugged at his mouth. "I think we have good taste while sober."

Chloe glanced over at him and smiled slightly before taking another sip of her coffee.

He was quiet for a moment, and he started to say something when his cell phone began to ring. He drew in a breath and moved over to it, picking it up and pressing it to his ear. "Hello?" He listened for a few seconds, his eyes widening and he turned to look at Chloe.

She arched her eyebrows more, headache momentarily forgotten, and looked over at him, eyes widening a little, "what?" She whispered.

"No, that's fine. Yeah, I'll check with the front desk about it. Thanks." He hung up the phone, raising his eyebrows. "So uh...apparently I bought you a wedding present after we got married."

Chloe stared at him for a moment, not liking the look on his face, "do I want to ask?"

He chewed the inside of his cheek. "I bought the Star City Register."

She blinked a couple of times then slowly set her mug down on the coffee table and turned to look at him again, "as in the paper?"

He nodded, raising his eyebrows. "For, and I quote, 'my beautiful bride.'"

"Are you telling me this is already front page everywhere?" She asked, her eyes widening slowly.

"I don't know," he said uncertainly. "But if it's not, it will be soon."

"Right," she breathed, rubbing her hands over her face, "another reason never to go back to Metropolis..."

He winced at that, looking down for a moment.

"In the off chance Dinah won't kill me, Jimmy will." She told him quietly, "and if Clark ever picks up the paper, he'll probably try to kill you." She stilled, sitting up, "not to mention, Lois. Shit."

"Dinah, Jimmy and Clark have _no_ right to say _anything_ about what we do with our lives, considering." He let out a breath. "But you should probably call Lois."

"Yeah, that will go over well," Chloe sighed a little, reaching for her mug and taking a long sip of her coffee, "by the way, Lo? I married your ex last night."

"Lois and I were over a long time ago," he said softly, shaking his head.

"I know but there is an unspoken rule that I should clear with her before even thinking about dating you..." she told him quietly.

"Oh." He fell silent at that, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not that we were dating..." she added then stood up, "I'll go call her."

"Right." He nodded quickly. "Good idea."

Chloe made her way back to her bedroom, the one they had woken up in and picked up her phone from her suitcase, she had made a conscious decision to leave it behind the previous night both to stop herself from drunk dialing anyone and to avoid answering it should Jimmy call her.

She scrolled down to her cousin's number and took a deep breath, then waited.

"Lois Lane," her cousin said a moment later, sounding distracted.

With a deep breath, she stepped further into the room, toward the windows. She didn't want to close the door but she didn't want Oliver to hear her either, "hey, it's me."

"Hey!" Lois leaned back in her chair. "You are never going to guess what I heard a little while ago."

Chloe winced and closed her eyes, "what did you hear?"

"That Oliver Queen _eloped_ in Las Vegas. I mean, really? Las Vegas?"

Fuck. She took a deep breath, but this might help, "yeah? How do you feel about that?"

"I'm just glad he didn't go through with that whole plan to marry Dinah Lance. I mean, what a _bitch_."

"I agree with you there," Chloe added, wondering exactly how much trouble she was in with her cousin, "but... are you okay with him being married, I mean, you did go out with him."

Lois considered for a moment. "It never would have worked out between us and plus..." She hesitated. "I sort of have my eye on someone else."

"Right, Grant," she said, rolling her eyes at that.

"I broke up with him, actually."

That made Chloe pause again, looked like she wasn't the only one with news, "you did? Good." She told Lois, "who is it then?"

"Don't get mad," she said, her voice dropping.

If only Lois knew how much leeway she had right now, "who is it?"

"It's...Clark." She bit her lip.

All Chloe could do was remain quiet for a very long time, "...Clark? Lois, that's a really bad idea."

"I know you've always had feelings for him, Chloe..."

"I know, Lo..." she said quietly, sighing and sitting down on the cushions by the window, "but Lana is back and the last thing I want for you is to have him break your heart too."

She sighed softly. "I know. It's stupid. I know it is."

"It's not something you can help but maybe you should try to find someone else to focus on," she said quietly.

"Probably," Lois agreed. "If only it was that easy."

"Maybe you need some time away," Chloe suggested quietly.

"I'll think about it." She was quiet for a moment. "What are you up to?"

Chloe took another deep breath and leaned sideways against the window, looking down at the pool, "I have a few things I need to tell you." She admitted.

"Nothing like a heart to heart over the phone." She smiled a little. "What's up?"

"Just, let me finish before you say anything, okay?" Without giving Lois a chance to respond, she went on, "I wanted to make sure you heard it from me. I... broke up with Jimmy a couple of days ago, Grant fired me from the Planet, and I'm the person Oliver married last night." She added the last part then pulled her phone away from her ear because if Lois screamed, her head would explode.

There was a moment of silence. "You...what?"

"We're not, were... are, I don't know, we weren't together or anything. Oliver found out Dinah was cheating on him and with everything that had been going on with me too, he suggested we came to Vegas and... well, we got really drunk last night and woke up married. I'm not sure how it happened yet, I can't remember much and neither can he."

Lois paused. "You're married to Oliver Queen." There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Shh, don't say it out loud if you're at the Planet." Chloe told her, "I... am, on paper but I don't know what we're going to do because like I said, we weren't even dating."

"How do you feel about it?"

"Like I'm far from ready to analyze that?" Chloe tried, "he just got a call saying he apparently bought the Star City Register last night," she chose to leave out the 'wedding gift' part, "so we figured you'd hear about it pretty soon."

"He bought the Register?" Lois echoed, raising her eyebrows.

"Apparently," she told her, "we're still trying to put the pieces together, we're both ridiculously hungover and we're not quite sure what else happened yet."

"So this was like a wedding present?"

She should have known better, somehow, Lois always knew things she was trying to keep from her, "something like that. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered firmly. "I'm more interested in hearing about Mr. Green in the bedroom with my cousin." She smirked.

Chloe's eyes widened, "Lois." She told her, "we haven't, we didn't... we apparently just got married and passed out, we both woke up fully clothed, don't-- go there."

Her smirk widened. "But you _want_ to. I can hear it in your voice."

"Okay," she took a deep breath, "as long as you don't completely hate me for this, I'm gonna go and try to figure things out and I'll talk to you later."

"Chloe. I could _never_ hate you," Lois said honestly. "I love you. And you'll be fine."

Her chest tightened a little at that and she took a deep breath, "I love you too, Lo. And you'll be fine too."

"You know it." She grinned. "Call me when you figure it out."

"I will. See you soon." She promised then took a deep breath and hung up. She figured she probably shouldn't mention the whole possibly moving to Star City thing yet. She stood up slowly, feeling a little more relaxed and made her way back out of the bedroom and to the living room, "well, she's not mad."

He turned to face her. "She's not?" There was a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

"No... she had already heard about you getting married so she was mostly just teasing me about it?" She told him, walking back toward the couch, phone still in hand.

"Oh." He relaxed a little, smiling as he nodded.

"Yeah," she said quietly, sitting back down and pulling her feet up on the couch, her knees bending in front of her chest.

He looked over at her silently for a moment. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better," she told him, looking over at him, "you?"

"I'm fine," he said with a nod.

"Did you remember anything else?" Chloe asked quietly, her eyes on him.

Oliver hesitated. "Vaguely..."

She swallowed hard and sat up a little, "okay, what do you remember?"

"Sort of proposing?" he admitted.

"Oh," she paused, her eyes widening, "oh, at the restaurant and then we..." she paused. Kissed. A lot apparently.

A smile tugged at his mouth. "Yeah."

She took a deep breath and looked over at him, feeling nervous again, "what are we going to do?"

He was silent for a moment. "I think that kinda...depends on how you feel about it." His voice was soft.

"That's not fair," she said almost immediately, "it's not all on me."

"No, I didn't mean...I know." He took a step toward her, holding his hands up in surrender.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded slightly, looking down before turning her eyes on him again, "and I have no idea what to do."

Oliver watched her closely for a few seconds, then drew in a deep breath, as well. "Can I say something?"

"Yeah?" She said quietly, leaning back against the couch and looking up at him.

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. "I've done my fair share of drinking over the years," he told her, slowly moving over to sit down on the sofa beside her. "But uh...I've never done anything while drunk that I wouldn't have at least _considered_ doing while sober."

She stared up at him for a full moment then shook her head a little, "that's not-- we weren't even dating, Oliver and two days ago, we were _engaged to other people_ ," she pointed out.

"I know. I know it's all weird and sudden and not exactly the norm." He looked down. "But that doesn't mean..."

"Doesn't mean what?" She asked, shifting a little on the couch and turning toward him.

"It doesn't mean that the thought hadn't crossed my mind," he admitted softly. "And it doesn't mean it can't work."

"People date for years before getting married and still can't make it work, Oliver," she pointed out quietly, "I mean, look at us two, we both have failed engagements that would probably have turned into failed marriages."

"Look at who we were engaged to," he pointed out, raising his eyebrows. "That's why it never would have worked, Chloe. Were you and Jimmy ever even friends before you started dating?"

"Not really," she admitted and took a deep breath, "and I know you and Dinah weren't really either but friendship doesn't always mean things will work out."

"No, but I think maybe it has a better chance." He gazed at her. "And as crazy as it might sound...I can see it," he whispered. "With you and me. I can see it."

Her chest tightened and she looked at him for a full moment, "what if it doesn't work?" She asked in a whisper even though she could see it too.

He considered that. "What if we try it, and if either of us at any point feels like it's not working, we agree that we'll part as friends?" His voice was quiet.

"I think that's easier said than done," she whispered, taking a deep breath and holding her hand out to him.

Oliver took her hand without hesitation. "I know. But I think it's worth a chance, Chloe," he whispered back. "Because I think we could have something really amazing." He slid his fingers through hers.

Her eyes teared up slightly and she held her breath then nodded slightly.

"So what do you say?" he asked softly. "Will you stay married to me?" A small, soft smile touched his mouth.

She smiled slightly and took a deep breath then nodded a little, squeezing his hand, "but I do expect you to take me out on a date eventually."

His face broke into a bright grin and he slid closer to her, wrapping his arms around her. "Deal."

Chloe grinned softly at the look on his face and wrapped her arms around him too, closing her eyes as she shifted closer.

He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, rubbing her back gently. "Why don't we do that date thing tonight?" he suggested.

With a deep breath, she lifted her head to look up at him, "no alcohol involved."

Oliver chuckled at that, meeting her eyes. "Agreed."

She smiled slightly and held his gaze, hesitating for a moment before leaning closer and kissing him softly.

His eyes drifted shut as their lips met, and he lifted a hand to her cheek, cupping it gently as he kissed her back instantly.

Chloe leaned into his touch, she vaguely remembered the kiss from the previous night and she'd been sure that the spark she had felt had been thanks to being drunk, but apparently not. She felt it now too and it was even stronger.

Oliver shifted closer to her, turning so his body was facing hers on the couch, his other hand trailing down to rest at the small of her back as he nibbled gently on her lower lip and then soothed it with his tongue.

As the kiss deepened, she turned more toward him too, trying to move closer as she lifted her hand to the back of his neck and pulled him to her.

His hand slid up and into her hair, threading through the blonde strands as he urged her closer, onto his lap.

She climbed sideways onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck without breaking the kiss.

A soft groan escaped him as her body pressed more firmly against his own and he wondered how they'd managed not to consummate things the night before. He wasn't sure, but he was glad they hadn't because he wanted to remember his first time with Chloe.

Reluctantly, she broke the kiss and took a deep breath, opening her eyes as she leaned her head over his, if kissing him was having this much effect on her, she couldn't imagine how everything else would feel.

"We should probably take things slowly?" he said uncertainly, even though his body was already protesting the thought.

"Considering we're already married, I don't think that's possible." She said quietly.

He couldn't help but smile a little at that. "I just don't want you to feel pressured."

"I don't," she told him quietly, "I never have with you."

Oliver's expression softened at that and he nodded a little, cupping her cheek once more.

Her face softened too and she leaned in, brushing her nose against his. "Hopefully, we'll figure it out."

"You and me?" He smiled softly. "We always do."


	14. Chapter 14

Since neither one of them had really felt like doing much or eating anything at all, they just stayed in the room and alternated between talking, watching TV, napping and making out. It wasn't until almost six that they decided they were hungry enough to go to dinner, which apparently was how tonight's date was going to begin.

Chloe decided to go with a greenish dress this time, mostly because she knew he would appreciate it, the heels she was wearing weren't as high as the ones she'd had on the previous night, but she wanted to enjoy herself, not be in pain.

Oliver stepped into the common room, spotting her instantly and holding his breath at the sight of her wearing his favorite shade of green. At least, it was his favorite shade of green _now_. He was wearing a pair of black dress pants and a white button down shirt. "You...look stunning," he murmured.

She held her breath when she saw him and smiled softly, "so do you," she told him, stepping closer to him, "apparently you look equally good in black and white." And she had no doubt he looked even better in neither.

He smiled back, his eyes bright as he walked toward her, holding his hands out silently.

Chloe took his hands and stepped closer to him, squeezing his hands as she held his gaze.

He squeezed her hands in return and dipped his head to kiss her cheek, his lips lingering for a brief moment. "Ready to go?"

She turned her head and brushed her nose against his cheek then nodded, "I am." She told him quietly.

Oliver closed his eyes for a moment, nodding as well and holding his breath as her eyebrows brushed against his cheek lightly. "What sounds good?"

Reluctantly, she pulled back and smiled up at him, "Italian sounds good, and I'd suggest a restaurant but I have no idea where we went last night."

"It was one of the ones here at the hotel," he told her. "But Italian sounds great to me, too."

"Great," she smiled, squeezing his hands, "at least we seem to always agree on food."

"We agree on a lot of things, Beautiful." He kissed her temple.

Chloe closed her eyes and smiled softly, squeezing his hands once more, she really couldn't argue with that.

Oliver smiled and led her toward the door, ready for their first date--as a married couple and otherwise--to begin.

* * *

**The previous night**

Chloe climbed from his back once they reached the back of the chapel, they had already gotten their rings and set everything up inside but now they had to walk down the aisle. She brushed her hands over her dress and took a deep breath, "can you see me yet?"

"I really hope so." He turned to face her, taking in the sight of her short wedding gown, a smile forming on his face. "Gorgeous," he said honestly.

She grinned brightly and looked up at him, holding her arms out, "it's like Madonna's! Well except for the weird boob cone thingy," she told him, looking down at her boobs.

His gaze dropped to her boobs, as well. "Well, yours are much nicer," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey!" She grinned, "we're not married yet, none of that."

"I'm just looking! You were checking out my ass earlier," he reminded her, frowning a little with a pout.

"Yeah well, your ass will be my ass soon, right?" She smiled, tiptoeing and kissing him.

He grinned at that and nodded. "Yep." He kissed her back, tugging her closer and up against him even as the wedding march began to play.

She pulled back at that and grinned up at him, taking his arm and straightening up as much as her legs would allow, "okay," she told him, "let's get married."

Oliver nodded his agreement, smiling brightly at her and leading her down the aisle.

* * *

"I did _not_ say I'd own it," she told him, a mix of horror and amusement on her features as she reached for her water and sipped on it, "you're making that up."

"You also grabbed my ass at the costume shop." He grinned brightly, taking a drink of his iced tea.

"I remember none of that," she lied, smirking and looking down as she pulled a piece of bread from the basket and dipped it in oil.

He smirked. "Sure you don't." Amused, he picked up one of the bread rolls, as well, popping a piece into his mouth.

"I'm just glad no one _else_ will ever know about any of this," she said pointedly with a smirk.

Oliver chuckled. "Good thing for you I'm an expert at keeping secrets."

"Well, I'd say we both are at that." She said quietly, smiling at him. "And we don't have to worry about keeping them from each other."

"Exactly." He held her gaze, returning her smile and taking another drink of his tea.

She smiled at him and hesitated before reaching over and covering his hand with hers. "So what are we doing after dinner?"

"I was thinking we could catch a show," he suggested.

"Yeah?" She arched her eyebrows, "sounds good, any particular ones? Because I'm sure they are all sold out and you will be able to get into any of them without a problem," she teased.

He grinned. "I thought I'd let my _wife_ choose."

Her eyes widened a little at that and she looked at him, "the title will take some getting used to."

"For me too," he admitted, leaning forward a little. "But I like the way it sounds."

She held his gaze and brushed her thumb over his hand, nodding slightly. "You make it sound less terrifying."

"I think that's where the whole 'best friends' part may help," he said gently, turning his hand in hers and lacing their fingers together.

Chloe smiled softly at that and nodded, "that was definitely not just the alcohol talking."

"Glad to hear it." He smiled back.

She grinned slightly at him and picked up her soda this time, sipping on it and relaxing a little. "If you keep agreeing with me in everything this whole marriage thing will be super easy," she teased.

He chuckled. "Well, I aim to please." He winked at her.

"Aim being the keyword here?" She smirked, arching her eyebrows, "although I suppose if we _never_ disagree on anything, it could get a little monotonous."

"Plus?" He leaned in a little, holding her gaze. "Makeup sex will be incredible."

Chloe held her breath and looked at him for a long moment, her cheeks warm, "well, we haven't even tried regular sex yet."

"True. And I'm very much looking forward to it." He winked at her.

She shifted and sat up a little, suddenly feeling nervous. Making out with him had been amazing, it had been hard to stick to just that earlier, but considering her stomach had still been upset, she didn't want to chance throwing up on him during their first time, or ever for that matter. On top of that, she had only ever slept with Jimmy before so she was a little worried that Oliver would be bothered when her obvious lack of experience showed. "Hopefully I won't let you down," she said, arching her eyebrows and doing her best to sound like she was teasing him.

Oliver gave her hand a squeeze, then lifted it to his mouth, lightly kissing the knuckles. "You never do."

Chloe held her breath and looked over at him, "I better be careful around you now," she told him, "you're not holding back on that charm of yours anymore, are you?"

He grinned. "I don't need to, do I?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"You're a very dangerous man," she said, lowering her voice and arching her eyebrows as she watched him closely.

"And you're a very dangerous woman," he murmured, keeping her hand near his mouth.

"I don't see what would make you think that," she whispered to him, brushing her fingertips over his bottom lip gently.

He kissed her fingertips, holding her gaze. "Because I trust you more than I've ever trusted any other woman ever," he informed her quietly.

Chloe held her breath and squeezed his hand slightly, "you're the only person who has ever trusted me like this."

He considered that for a moment, then cocked his head to the side. "It's their loss."

"I guess it doesn't matter anymore, right? Since we're stuck together now," she said softly, smiling a little.

"No one else I'd rather be stuck with," Oliver said honestly, smiling back at her.

"Let's hope you still feel this way in the long run." She told him, arching her eyebrows and squeezing his hand.

"I have very, very little doubt that I won't still feel this way," he said with a shrug.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked at him for a full moment, "look, Ollie, I... like that you feel so strongly about this right now, but considering the situation... aren't you at least a little afraid that we'll really start a life together and things won't be like this anymore?"

He was quiet for a moment, considering her question. "Chloe, I have no idea what's going to happen two days from now." His voice was quiet. "I'm not really the kind of guy who plans very far ahead, considering everything. You know?" He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. "All I know is that being with Dinah felt like being smothered slowly. A little at a time. She had no faith in me, she didn't trust me. Half the time I don't think she even _liked_ me. I tried to imagine what life would be like with her a few years down the road and I never could." He gazed at her. "But I don't feel that way about you. I don't feel like I'm trapped, even if we did elope in Vegas while we were trashed. I don't feel like you're using me or just...settling because no one else could possibly understand what our lives are like. I can picture us a few years from now the way I never could with her. Or with anyone else for that matter. I know it's scary and overwhelming, but..." He shook his head a little. "I can promise that I'll never intentionally hurt you. That I'll be there for you anytime you need me. Anything you want in the world? All you have to do is name it." He smiled faintly. "So yeah, I'm a little scared. But...I'm not facing this alone. I'm facing it with my best friend."

Her eyes teared up as she listened to him, her chest tightened as he spoke along with her grip on his hand. "It just sounds too good to be true," she admitted quietly, "and I'm glad I'm not the only who is scared but I just don't want to mess this up somehow."

"Me either, believe me. So we'll take this as slow as you want." He paused. "Well. You know what I mean." He smiled a little, reaching out with his other hand and gently brushing a tear from the corner of her eye with his thumb.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded slightly, leaning into his touch and pressing her lips to his palm as she smiled softly, "yeah, the other stuff."

He nodded, as well, watching her intently.

"I'll... stop with this," she promised quietly, looking down then back at him, "just trying to process it."

"Well, it's pretty big news. It's okay if it takes some time to process it, Chloe."

"Yeah, for all I seem to be okay dealing with stressful situations, this one is taking me a while," she admitted, trying to be honest with him since she could, "but I'll get there."

"It's a different kind of stress," he said gently.

"It is," she agreed then smiled over at him, "this one doesn't involve possible alien invasions or death."

"Well, somehow trusting someone with your heart suddenly makes alien invasions look easy." 

Chloe smiled at that and nodded taking a deep breath, "I'm so glad you understand."

"I do," he said quietly, lifting her hand to his cheek.

She cupped his cheek and nodded slightly, taking a deep breath and feeling more relaxed once more, "after we see a show, we should definitely make our way back upstairs."

"I like this plan," he whispered with a soft smile.

"I really do too," she grinned softly, "we won't be officially married until then, anyway."

He simply grinned back at her, his eyes bright.


	15. Chapter 15

Oliver glanced at her sideways as the limo pulled up in front of the Daily Planet. "You ready for this?" he asked quietly, tightening his arm around her a little and pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Far from it," she told him, smiling nervously and taking a deep breath. The news had broken a couple of days ago and apparently her cousin and her _husband_ had agreed they should go to the Planet to see her and in the meanwhile show Jimmy and Gabriel that they had done her a favor. Chloe didn't particularly like this plan, but since she was looking forward to rubbing it in Dinah's face, she figured she'd give Ollie the same satisfaction.

"It'll be okay," he assured her.

Chloe nodded slightly and leaned in, kissing his cheek then nudging at him, "let's get it over with."

He winked at her and opened the door, sliding out of the car and holding his hand out to her.

She took his hand and a deep breath before standing up and held his gaze.

He offered her a reassuring smile and then wrapped his arm around her waist, leading her toward the front door of the Daily Planet and nodding at the wide-eyed doorman.

Chloe avoided eye contact as they made their way inside, the staff that was around the hallway didn't bother hiding the fact that they were staring. She supposed it was something she should get used to. "Elevator or stairs?"

"Let's take the elevator," he suggested.

She nodded a little and wrapped her arm around him too, looking up at him, "less chances of falling."

He hugged her to him lightly. He had very little doubt she'd make it down the stairs just fine. But he didn't want to make her anymore uncomfortable than she already clearly was.

"I wonder," she murmured, glancing up at him as they made their way into the elevator, "if you would have this many eyes on you when you walked in here if I wasn't with you."

"It's only natural that they stare," he said with a slight shrug. "Two adorable blondes walking down the hall together..."

She grinned softly and hugged him close for a second before relaxing her arm around him, "funny."

"Truth," he said confidently, turning her in his arms and hugging her.

She hesitated until the elevator's doors closed, hugging him back once they were alone, "so Jimmy will probably be yelling cheater or something equally as offensive. Be sure to take a deep breath and stop yourself from 'punching his face in' like I know you want to?"

He grinned a little as he looked down at her. "Not even once?"

"No," she grinned back, "mostly because I can't do the same with Dinah and I don't think it's fair that you'd get to and I would not."

He sighed a little. "Fine, fine. No physical violence."

Chloe grinned and kissed his cheek, pulling back as she felt the elevator stopping, "okay," she told him, keeping just one arm around him and looking up at him, "come on, you owe me burgers after this."

He winked at her. "All the burgers you could eat. I'll even cook them for you."

"I will accept the offer eventually, but not today," she told him, keeping her eyes on him as they stepped out of the elevator, her heart beating fast.

"You don't trust my cooking? I'm hurt." He frowned a little, his hand resting lightly on her hip as they walked into the crowded bullpen, looking for Lois.

"I don't think I have really tried it," she told him, "but I do remember drunkenly promising to introduce you to my favorite fries in the world and Lois and I plan on doing that for lunch today."

"Oh." He smiled, nodding. "Dirty's right?"

"Yes, I'm surprised you remember it." She said sincerely, focusing on him for a moment longer before looking around. She could see Jimmy out of the corner of her eyes but focused on her cousin instead and waved at her.

"I pay attention," he told her softly.

"Chloe!" Lois waved back at her and quickly headed in their direction.

"Hey," Chloe smiled, barely having enough time to let go of Oliver as her cousin wrapped her arms around her.

Lois hugged her tightly, and then pulled away to look at her. "You look fantastic."

Chloe arched her eyebrows in surprise and glanced over at Oliver, "thanks, Lo. You do too. Feels like I haven't seen you in forever."

"Well, considering everything, no kidding." She smirked, raising her eyebrows.

She smiled at her and nodded slightly, "a lot has happened," she agreed, stepping aside slightly so Oliver was included in the circle.

Lois regarded him with a smirk. "Well, you definitely traded up for once."

She looked down and smiled, glancing at Oliver then back at Lois, "no arguments there."

Oliver smiled, glancing at Chloe. "I agree."

"What are you doing here?" Jimmy asked as he approached them, "you've done enough."

Chloe tensed and held her breath, glancing from Lois to Oliver before turning to him, "I'm visiting my cousin."

Oliver slid his arm around her once more. " _Our_ cousin," he corrected her with a soft smile.

Jimmy glared at him then back at Chloe, "I knew you were a cheater, I hope he cheats on you too and humiliates you."

"Actually, she didn't cheat on you," he stated, raising his eyebrows. "But I hear you were getting awfully friendly with Kara Kent." He rubbed his thumb lightly over Chloe's hip.

"Why should I believe your lies?" Jimmy glared.

"Because they are not lies, Jimmy. I have nothing to hide and if you still have an attitude problem stay away from us."

"I work here." He told her tightly.

"And I don't anymore, thanks to you."

Lois cleared her throat. "Olsen, take a hike," she ordered.

Jimmy glared at Lois then back at Chloe, his eyes narrowing, "always knew you were a whore."

Oliver tensed involuntarily and pulled away from Chloe, grabbing him and shoving him up against the desk behind them. "You watch your fucking mouth," he said darkly.

"Oliver." Chloe said tightly, stepping forward and placing her hand on his arm.

"What is going on here?" Gabriel Grant said, approaching them.

He reluctantly released Jimmy with a shove and turned to look at Grant. "Your staff is sexually harassing my _wife_ ," he said, glaring at the other man.

"Sullivan," Grant said, "didn't I fire you? And I don't remember you making an appointment with one of my reporters, Queen. I want both of you out."

Chloe's jaw tightened but she stood up straight, "we're not here on business, Gabriel," she told him, "although you might want to be more careful with what you say to us, would hate to have to expose your little family secret." She added in a lower voice.

Oliver smirked at him. "I'd watch her if I were you. She is the new editor for the Star City Register." He cocked his head to regard Grant for a moment. "But trust me, I wouldn't talk to any of your reporters on the record. Ever." He wrapped his arm around Chloe once more. "Lunch?" he asked, glancing at her and then at Lois.

Lois' eyes widened as she looked at her cousin but she just nodded slightly.

"Lunch," Chloe agreed, eyes still on Grant for a moment before she looked up at her husband and smiled, then she turned to her cousin, "come on, Lo."

Nodding again, Lois took Chloe's other arm and walked with them toward the elevator.

Chloe didn't say anything else until they were back inside the limo, the whispering, pointing and staring had followed them outside so she didn't want to risk it. Once inside, she took a deep breath, "I guess Ollie already broke the news," she said to her cousin, "well, the other news."

"Sorry. I just wanted to show up that jackass," he admitted, glancing at Chloe.

"It's okay," she assured him, smiling and relaxing, "that's one of the reasons we picked her up, right?"

He smiled a bit, nodding.

"So the Star City Register?" Lois raised her eyebrows.

Chloe nodded slightly, "Ollie bought it while drunk," she said, arching her eyebrows and smirking at her husband then back at her cousin, "so how would you like to become the Register's newest reporter?"

Her eyes widened. "Are you serious?" She looked between them.

She grinned and nodded, "of course, and I promise you won't be sitting in a basement either."

Lois leaned back in the seat, chewing on her lower lip for a moment. "Can I think about it for a couple days?"

"As long as you need," she told her then held her gaze, "and it doesn't have to be permanent, but I think some time away from Kansas will do you good."

"You mean time away from _Clark_ ," Lois responded, giving her a look.

Chloe arched her eyebrows and nodded a little, "besides, we do have the beach."

Oliver looked from his wife to Lois. "And we have plenty of room."

She smiled softly at Ollie then focused on Lois again before nodding, "think about it."

"I will." She raised her eyebrows a little, studying them, watching how close they were sitting, how his arm was around her and her hand rested lightly on his knee. Comfortable and relaxed. It was kind of weird.

"You okay?" Chloe asked, not missing the way her cousin was watching them, studying them more like it.

"I'm fine," Lois said honestly, nodding as she gazed at her cousin.

Oliver shifted a little. "I know this probably seems like it's out of the blue..."

Chloe reluctantly pulled her hand from his knee and shifted too, "we... were spending a lot of time together before our trip," she admitted.

"You guys, I'm not upset," she said, shaking her head. "As far as I'm concerned, this is one for the win column."

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded slightly and glanced at Oliver then back at her cousin, "well, despite the fact that we're married, we're pacing things so... there's a lot we need to get used to too."

"But you love each other." She raised an eyebrow.

She held her breath and stared at Lois for a moment, "we're getting there," she lied, she knew she'd had feelings for Oliver deeper than anything else she'd ever felt before.

Lois didn't miss the look on her cousin's face, nor did she miss the flicker of hurt that passed Ollie's. "Hmm."

Chloe took a deep breath and leaned back against the seat, not looking at Oliver, "just think about the Register."

"Sure." She nodded, pursing her lips.

Oliver looked out the window silently as the car drove toward the restaurant.

* * *

About an hour later, they made their way back to the Clocktower. Oliver was going to pack his things then they were going to the Talon apartment to pick up Chloe's, at least she assumed that was still the plan. "Are you okay?" She asked as they stepped out of the elevator and onto the top floor, "you were very quiet during lunch."

"Yeah, I'm all right," he assured her with a small smile and a nod as they made their way through the living room.

"No you're not," she said quietly, keeping her eyes on him, "what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," he murmured.

Her chest tightened and she watched him for a long moment, "doesn't sound like nothing," she whispered, looking down. He was getting cold feet about it, she knew it was only a matter of time, she knew once they left Vegas things would be different.

He chewed the inside of his cheek. "You don't love me." He hadn't really meant to blurt it out like that, but he supposed that was the bottom line.

She stilled, his words had been quiet but they felt incredibly sharp, painfully so, "I never said that."

"To Lois. In the limo." He looked down for a moment.

"Oh," her face fell, her chest tightened, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Okay." He nodded a little.

"Oliver..." she sighed softly, reluctantly taking a step toward him, "what did you think I meant about taking things slow?"

"No, I know. I'm being unreasonable." He exhaled as he looked up at her.

"You're not," she whispered quietly, holding his gaze, "I just... I don't know, I guess this is what scares me."

"What, exactly?" he asked softly, shaking his head.

She looked away from him and took a deep breath, "feeling so much so quickly."

"I don't want to scare you," he whispered.

"It's not your fault," she said quietly before looking at him.

"But you've been hurt." He gazed at her.

"So have you," she told him, looking back at him.

He held his breath for a moment before nodding.

Chloe hesitated then stepped closer, "which is why I think we need to be careful, so it doesn't end up like that again."

Oliver swallowed hard, nodding again. "Yeah. I know."

She looked at him for a moment and stopped herself from moving any closer, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We agreed we'd take things slow."

Pursing her lips together, she looked up at him, "why don't you stay here and I go to Smallville?" They hadn't left each other's side in days after all.

"But you'll come back, right?" His voice was soft.

Her stomach clenched and she looked at him for a long moment then nodded, "if you want me to."

"Of course I do," he whispered, taking a step closer to her. He lifted his hand to her cheek, then dipped his head and kissed her urgently.

She kissed him back just as urgently, lifting her arms and wrapping them around him, pulling him to her.

Oliver slid his hand up and into her hair, then leaned down and picked her up in his arms silently.

Chloe dropped her purse to the floor and wrapped her arms around his neck this time, holding on to him as tightly as she could.

"I think Smallville might have to wait awhile," he informed her.

She took a deep breath and held his gaze, "it's not going anywhere." She told him.

He smiled, his eyes bright.


	16. Chapter 16

It took Chloe a couple of hours to pack her clothes and small things. She wasn't going to take any of the furniture or anything else since they weren't really hers to begin with, she and Lois had shared some of it and added to it whenever they were living at the apartment and besides, it wasn't like she was going to need them moving into Oliver's penthouse. She had stopped by the Planet and Lois had come outside to get the keys from her and they talked for a while and hugged and promised they wouldn't go long without seeing one another.

Then she made her way over to Oliver's Clocktower and just as she was getting out of the car in the garage, she felt movement behind her. Chloe stilled and looked over to the window of the car, trying to see a reflex or something, but it was too dark. Her purse was still on the passenger's seat so she couldn't reach for her taser or her phone without making it obvious.

"You really think you can keep him entertained for long?"

Chloe's jaw tightened as she recognized the voice instantly. She stood up straight and turned slowly to face Dinah. "Well at least I managed to make it down the aisle."

She smirked. "In Vegas. Probably while very hammered?" she guessed, cocking her head to the side.

"Regardless of how it happened," Chloe spoke, "it was his suggestion to stay married."

Dinah shrugged. "It was his idea to propose to me, too. You saw how long _that_ lasted."

"The difference is that he loves me." She told Dinah tightly then smirked, "and I love him." She surprised herself with the words but she knew they were true, it was just easier to tell Dinah than then to tell Oliver.

"Which means he'll actually be able to break your heart when he leaves you for the next blonde." She arched an eyebrow, folding her arms across her chest.

"There is a major difference between my relationship with Oliver and yours, Dinah." She arched an eyebrow right back, "it's called trust."

"Sure." The woman looked and sounded thoroughly unconvinced.

"Your opinion makes no different to me, Dinah," Chloe told her, "I just want you out of our lives and away from us."

Dinah smirked at that. "Well, you're moving to Star City, right? Shouldn't be a problem. It's a long way from Gotham."

"You're moving back to Gotham then? Good to know, I'll make sure we keep our distance." She said. "Is there anything else you want?"

"Not really. I just wanted to see for myself." She smirked once more and turned to head away.

"You're obviously not heart broken by this. Why the hell did you stay with him for so long?" Chloe asked.

Dinah turned to look at her once more. "Oliver's a good time. Not very faithful and...well." She shrugged. "Not the brightest bulb in the box. But I had hopes for awhile."

"Did he ever mean anything to you?" She asked, not completely surprised by the woman's answer. She obviously didn't know Oliver very well at all.

"Like I said, he was a good time while it lasted."

"In that case, I'm really glad I caught you," she told her then smirked a little, "actually, I'm glad in any case."

"So am I, actually," she said, raising her eyebrows. "Because now he's _your_ problem to deal with and I'm a free bird." Winking at Chloe, she turned and headed away.

"A problem I will gladly take care of," Chloe said, taking a deep breath and leaning back into her car, picking up her purse before heading to the elevator. As long as Dinah kept her distance from Oliver, she really didn't care what she did or said.

Oliver was packing up his overnight bag--the things he would need to unpack within the next few hours when they landed in Star City. He heard the elevator and he held his breath for a moment, then headed into the living room area to greet his wife.

Chloe took a deep breath once the elevator pulled up to the top floor then reached for the gate, pushing it open and smiling softly the second she saw him standing there. "Hey."

"Welcome back." He smiled back softly at her, moving over to where she stood.

She looked at him for a moment then grinned softly and walked up to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him without warning. Seeing Jimmy earlier today and seeing Dinah just now had most definitely made her appreciate this even more.

He was caught off guard by the kiss, but as soon as his brain registered what was happening, he slid his arms around her and returned the kiss.

Chloe pulled back a moment later and smiled up at him as she did, "I'm ready." She said quietly.

"Got everything already?" His hand cupped her cheek as he searched her eyes.

"Yeah," she told him, leaning into his touch, "mostly just clothes and some smaller stuff, books and DVDs and files."

Oliver nodded, kissing her softly once more. "Good," he whispered.

Chloe brushed her nose against his and held his gaze, her heart skipped a beat, "this is still completely insane," she told him quietly, "but I can't wait to get to Star City."

"It'll give you a chance to start over," he said just as quietly.

She smiled softly and brushed her thumb over his cheek, "both of us."

He nodded, smiling a little and then turning his head and kissing her thumb before meeting her eyes once more.

Chloe smiled at him then pulled away from him, reaching for his hand and tugging on it lightly, "come on." She said, her eyes bright, "let's go home."

* * *

"Okay," Chloe said, opening the one box she had brought, everything else she had managed to fit into a few suitcases, most of which were already unpacked into Oliver's ridiculously big closet. "These are the files and stuff." It felt weird to be moving in with him, regardless of their marital status, moving in actually felt like a big change especially considering they had been married for a week now and been officially dating for six days, but they had grown closer in the past couple of months and after everything they had been through, Chloe knew that at least, they got along. He was definitely much more comfortable to be around than Jimmy had been.

"Hmm." He was sprawled out on the bed, head propped up on one hand as he watched her, a small smile on his mouth.

She cocked her head and looked over at him, arching her eyebrows, "what?"

"Nothing." He grinned a little more.

"Uh huh," she told him, getting up off the floor and getting on the bed, crawling over to where he was, "I hope you're comfortable laying there while I do all the work."

He grinned brightly. "I was just thinking that you are very adorable when you're focusing so intently on something," he informed her.

"Excuses not to help me unpack," she said, hovering over him then brushing her lips teasingly over his.

"Unpacking can wait," he told her, shifting so he was on his back and gripping onto her hips as he kissed her back just as lightly.

"Easy for you to say," she said, stretching her legs as she laid down half on top of him and lifted a hand to cup his cheek, "you won't have to go through suitcases to find your clothes."

"You can buy new clothes," he informed her with a grin, gazing up at her. "As many as you want."

"And I'll need to so I can look presentable for my new job," Chloe said, grinning back at him.

"You'd look presentable if you walked into the place wearing a plastic bag." He smirked. "Not that I want anyone there seeing that much of _my_ wife."

"Yeah, that will help me gain everyone's respect," she said, arching her eyebrows and smirking right back at him, "it's bad enough that I got the job because you drunkenly decided to buy me the entire newspaper."

"It was a good investment," he protested.

"Uh huh," she smirked, brushing her nose against his, "and now it's up to me to make sure it stays that way?"

Oliver captured her lips in a kiss, tugging her closer to him. "I thought it'd be a good wedding gift."

"I can't argue with that," she kissed him back then grinned, "besides, that way I just _had_ to move to Star City, right?"

"You have to admit, even when I'm drunk, I make great decisions." He winked up at her.

"I think we have already established that." She pointed out, smirking.

"Touche." He slid his hands up and down her back, gazing at her.

Chloe smiled softly and leaned closer, kissing him deeply but slowly as she brushed her fingers over his cheek.

He kissed her back without hesitation, his fingers gently brushing against her skin as they dipped beneath the bottom of her shirt.

She shivered slightly and smiled against his lips, cupping his head in her hand and deepening the kiss. Oliver smiled when she did, trailing his fingers slowly up her spine as their tongues danced together.

Chloe shivered and took a deep breath as she broke the kiss a moment later, "you're incredibly distracting."

He grinned up at her. "Tell me this isn't more fun than unpacking," he teased.

"I have no reason to lie to you, remember?" She asked, lifting her foot and running it over his leg.

Oliver groaned softly, his grip tightening on her hip just a little. "I remember," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck.

She shivered a little and lifted her hand from his face, sliding it down his chest and closing her eyes, "very distracting."

He just grinned.


	17. Chapter 17

Epilogue

Oliver gazed at his wife with a soft smile on his face as she lay beside him in bed, her head resting on his chest. He pressed a tender kiss to her forehead, gently rubbing her back as he watched her sleep. They'd been married for six weeks today. And he was loving every moment. He hadn't known how comforting it could be to really let himself love someone the way he did Chloe. He felt whole in a way that he never had before.

But they hadn't said the words.

Not since the night they had gotten trashed and married. But every time they made love, every time he held her in his arms, or she just _smiled_ at him, he ached to tell her. He just didn't want to scare her off. So he showed her the best he could in other ways. Always brewing a pot of flavored coffee for her first thing in the morning. Sending her text messages throughout the day when he had free moments at Queen Industries. Listening to her when she wanted to talk about something. They were best friends first and lovers second, although these days the two titles were so thoroughly mixed together he wasn't sure which was which anymore and he wasn't sure that it really mattered.

She was used to waking up after him, there was something comforting to wake up and find him there, waiting for her to open her eyes. Which she just did, smiling softly when she met his eyes before closing her own again and pressing a kiss to his shoulder, "hi."

"Morning," he whispered, kissing her hair.

"Morning," she answered back, wrapping her arm around him tightly and pulling him closer as she pressed against his side.

"Sleep okay, Gorgeous?" he murmured.

"Mhmm," she said quietly, "did you?"

Oliver nodded a little. "I was thinking..."

"Dangerous," she teased, smiling lazily then lifting her head to look at him.

He smirked at her, tickling her lightly in the ribs. "I was thinking we could make breakfast this morning."

Chloe squirmed a little and grinned softly, keeping her eyes on him, "make?" She asked, "I can't make anything beyond coffee and with you around, it's been so long I've made that, I'm not sure I can make it anymore."

He grinned, too. "I was thinking about waffles and pancakes." He gazed at her, lifting a hand to cup her cheek.

"Oh," her chest tightened a little as she remembered their conversation instantly. Felt like it had happened forever ago, but it had only been a couple of months. She took a deep breath then smiled, "with strawberries?"

"Fresh carton in the fridge," he told her, moving his thumb lightly over her skin.

Chloe shivered slightly and smiled a little, pushing herself up slightly so her nose was brushing over him, "I think it's a good idea."

He smiled softly and kissed her mouth before reluctantly pulling away. "I'll get everything out."

She pursed her lips together and nodded a little, keeping her arm around him as she pushed herself up too.

"You okay?" he asked, pausing as he looked back at her.

"Yeah," she said quietly, smiling softly up at him and nodding slightly. They hadn't spent nearly as much time together in the past few weeks since Ollie was busy with Queen Industries, she was nearly going insane with being the new Editor and they were both keeping their eyes on Lex just in case, and she'd been noticing just how much she missed seeing him for than five or six hours a day, if that. And she'd been realizing more and more just how much he meant to her.

"Good," he whispered, holding her gaze. His chest tightened and he held his breath for a moment before offering her another soft smile.

Chloe held her breath and leaned closer, pressing a tender kiss to the corner of his lips before reluctantly letting go of him.

He closed his eyes when she kissed him lightly, gently stroking his hand down her hair. "I'll put on some coffee."

"Okay," she said quietly, brushing her nose against his cheek, "I'll be right there, once I find my clothes," she smirked a little, looking up at him.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? Clothing's optional," he told her with a smirk.

Chloe smiled at that and arched her eyebrows, "I disagree, I don't want anything splashing anywhere and damaging my property," she told him, eying him up and down.

Oliver chuckled at that. "Point." He eyed her back. "And ditto. Less clothing _after_ breakfast."

She laid back on the bed and stretched a little, nodding slightly and cocking her head at him, " _after_ , possibly during, just not before."

"I do like the way you think, Mrs. Queen." He winked at her and headed out of the room.

Chloe watched him go and just laid back for a moment, taking a deep breath and stretching once more before standing up. He still constantly surprised her with how thoughtful he was and how much he didn't hold back. He was constantly reminding her how much she meant to him in not so many words, constantly making her feel special and well _loved_ and she was still holding herself back on him. She knew it wasn't fair.

With a deep breath, she picked up her panties from the floor and his t-shirt, wearing them before making her way to the kitchen.

Oliver had already pulled out all the supplies for making pancakes, and waffles, and was stirring batter when she entered the room. He gave her the once over, twice, grinning. "You look better in my clothes than I do."

"I'd say you do too, but I can't really picture you in a dress," she smiled softly, walking up to him.

He winked at her. "For which I'm very glad about, by the way."

"I don't know, could be interesting," she told him, stepping behind him and wrapping her arms around him as she cocked her head to the side, "anything I can help you with?"

Oliver arched an eyebrow at the teasing and smiled a bit. "Yeah, if you want to mix up this batter, I'll start on the pancake batter."

"Okay," she agreed quietly, kissing his shoulder before letting go of him and stepping aside so she could reach for the bowl.

He turned to face her, handing her the bowl and brushing a kiss against her forehead.

Her heart skipped a beat at the tenderness and she smiled softly, looking up at him before starting to mix the batter.

He moved to grab the other bowl and began to stir those ingredients together, as well, watching her as he leaned back against the counter.

Chloe didn't realize she was being watched so she stopped mixing for a while and stuck a finger into the batter, trying it and raising her eyebrows.

A grin tugged at his mouth. "Good stuff?" he teased lightly.

She blinked and grinned a little, going back to mixing, "not bad at all, this might be an issue."

"Oh?" His smile brightened. "How so?"

"I might demand you make it all the time?" She smirked, leaning back against the counter as she held the bowl to her stomach and kept on mixing the ingredients together.

He grinned. "Well, I'm all for making it our Sunday morning tradition."

She held her breath and nodded slightly, her eyes bright, "I think that's an amazing plan."

Oliver held her gaze and nodded slightly, his own eyes bright.

Chloe searched his eyes then smiled softly, her chest tightening as she held her breath, "I love you." She told him quietly.

His chest tightened, as well, and he stared at her for a moment. "W--what?"

She looked down, letting out her breath and shrugging a little, her heart beating fast as she looked back at him, "I love you." She repeated.

He set the bowl aside, on the counter, then crossed the floor to where she stood, taking hers, as well. "Thank God," he whispered. "I love you, too." He lifted his hand to her cheek and kissed her deeply, closing his eyes.

Chloe wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back, hugging him close as she smiled softly against his lips.

"Say it again," he whispered, pulling away a moment later as he gazed at her.

Her face softened and she held his gaze, "I love you," she said once more, "and I'm so sorry it took me so long to be able to say the words, but I have loved you for a long time."

He smiled back at her, nodding. "I know. It's just good to hear you say it," he admitted, brushing his nose against hers. "And to be able to say it."

She tightened her arms around him and kissed the corner of his mouth, "it's not as scary as I thought it would be."

"Good," he whispered. "I love you." He pulled her closer to him.

"I love you," she whispered back to him brushing her nose against his, "and getting fired then walking in on your ex and getting beyond drunk was the best thing that ever happened to me," she grinned, teasing.

He chuckled, kissing her lightly once more.

It was the best thing that had ever happened to him, too.


End file.
